


Of Demons and Magic

by nitanita



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Anxiety, Anxiety Attacks, Baby's First Fanfic, Depression, Frisk Uses Sign Language, Gen, Reader Is Not Frisk, Reader-Insert, Selectively Mute Frisk, You'll see what I mean, also grillby/reader doesn't happen right away, lots a plot, reader has magic, reader is female, sort of
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2016-05-19
Packaged: 2018-05-14 21:56:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 54,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5760319
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nitanita/pseuds/nitanita
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Up until now, your life had been pretty normal, that is until within a month you gained a number of powers and fell into a mysterious underground world that reminded you a little bit too much of a video game you had played.</p><p>But it was just a game, right?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: Your Best Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> This bit is long and is all background, so just bear with me, we get into the actual story next chapter and I promise it will be all Undertale stuff after this.

You had never really been one to get headaches, sure you got them every once and a while but it wasn’t a regular thing. Well, it wasn’t a regular thing until January had come around. At first it was once a week but over time it had increased and now it was April and you were more likely to have a headache than not. You had struggled through all but one of your exams with a constant pain in your skull that had recently gotten a lot worse. You figured that you should go to the doctor’s, but you’d rather just finish your last exam and then you’d have almost a month off until your job began in the middle of May.  
So, all-in-all, with your neglect of your health and your refusals to go to the hospital it maybe wasn’t all that surprising that you were hallucinating now too.  
You stared around your room hardly daring to believe it, maybe the headaches were a sign of some bigger problem that you had ignored, or maybe all the studying was getting to you, but now you were staring around your room at, well, floating objects. You were so shocking seeing so many of your belongings hanging in mid-air that you had hardly noticed that your headache had subsided, maybe you really had finally cracked. You reached out slowly toward a stuffed animal but flinched away as it moved toward your outstretched hand, as you had wanted, as you had willed it to do. I mean, sure, you had tried to use the force before, you had tried to move things with your mind like Matilda, but you had never seriously thought you could. This had to be a crazy dream. Before you had the chance to test that, though, you heard something.  
“Monkwood?!?”  
You jumped and looked around your room, all of the floating objects crashing to the floor. The light flickered on, you hadn’t even realized it had gone out. There was no one there, and truthfully the voice hadn’t come from outside of you but in your head. You hoped feebly that it was one of your housemates but you knew only two of them hadn’t gone home to see family and both of the ones still around were out of the house.  
“Monkwood?? Can you hear me?!?”  
That voice was definitely talking to you, from inside you. You decided that you had finally cracked.  
“I’m not going to hurt you.”  
“No, you’re just going to tell me to kill people.” you muttered under your breath.  
“I’m not just a voice in your head, and you aren’t going crazy.”  
You nearly fell off your bed, what the actual fuck.  
“Watch your mouth!”  
That time you did fall off your bed. Could this voice, this thing read your thoughts?  
“Yes I can, right now anyway, though it is easier if you speak out loud, Monkwood. And I like I said, I’m not just a voice, I am actually a person, I’m just using telepathy.”  
You pinched yourself, you figured it wouldn’t hurt and then you would know this was a nightmare and you could just wake up from it all but-  
“Ow, fuck!”  
“What did you just do?” The voice asked concerned.  
“I just pinched myself, trying to prove that this was a dream, but…”  
The voice chuckled, “Heathie did the same thing when I contacted her. I’m Bittersweet, by the way, but everyone calls me Buds.”  
You sighed, you figured if this was real then you might as well go along with it since this whole day had been so incredibly strange, and if you had gone mad then you might as well enjoy the magical powers while they lasted.  
You introduced yourself to Buds, “but what’s with Monkwood?” you asked. It certainly wasn’t your name, but if felt somehow like it fit.  
“That’s just a nickname, I’ll have to figure out what it means later, but I’ll explain everything to you in a little bit. Are you free for lunch?”  
“You’re seriously asking me out right now?” The voice in your head just asked you out, you were pretty sure that qualified you for a new level of singleness.  
“Well, no, it would be all five of us, we could explain your powers an-“  
“Wait a minute, there are more of us?!?!”  
“Yes, just, meet us on campus in the University Center in half an hour, I promise, we’ll explain everything.”  
“Wait, what, Buds, what do you mean everything?”  
There was no answer, you had a feeling the voice could no longer hear you. You sighed and looked at your clock, only seven minutes until the next bus to campus. You grabbed your purse and a sweater and ran downstairs to put your shoes. At the very least, you thought, this day couldn’t possibly get any weirder.  
\------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
You decided, after five minutes of conversation that you were wrong half an hour ago, things could get weirder, and get weirder they did.  
Buds’ (or Bittersweet’s) actual name was Tamera, she was 25 and tall, dark skinned with long dark brown braids cascading down her shoulders. She told you that she was the first to gain her power. And at first she could just read minds but her main purpose in the group was to connect all of you with each other, she had said that so long as your souls were “synthesized” she could connect you with anyone else in the group, though she didn’t stay connected constantly. There were three others. The first was Avery, they were a year younger then Tamera, their nickname was Fern, but they said everyone usually called them Ferny. They had the power to protect a house from haunting and a body form possession. The next was Hannah, or Heather (so this was “Heathie” you figured). She was short and unassuming but could apparently turn invisible and create disguises as well as teach you how to “separate your soul pieces” whatever that meant. You hadn’t asked at the time. The last was Owen, or Gladiolus (Glads) who was 21, only a year older then you and had only begun getting his powers a year ago. He told you that he had super strength, super speed, the ability to detect spirits and the ability to forcibly rip them from their bodies, you made a mental note to stay on his good side.  
Now all of them were staring at you expectantly and you shifted awkwardly under their collective gaze.  
“Well,” said Buds patiently, “what powers have you discovered?”  
“Oh, uh, I can move stuff with my mind,” you said “Here, watch.” You reached outward the saltshaker that was on the far side to the table but before you could use it you heard a collective “STOP!!” And four hands clamped your outstretched one down to the table. The saltshaker fell over. You looked up in surprise as they all removed their hands and looked at one another shakily. “What the fuck?” you hissed, rubbing your hand.  
“That’s…not a good idea.” said Buds, looking away from you, you realized that Heathie, Ferny, and Glads were staring at you in shock.  
“It was her whole eye,” Ferny chocked out. “Buds did you see that? Her whole-“  
“Of course I saw it!” Buds snapped.  
“Saw what? What did I do?” You asked, a bit afraid of the answer. Maybe it had been a bit much to try and use your newfound power in public, but why did they all look so nervous now? Buds, you realized had put on sunglasses and looked toward you.  
“For the rest of us, when we use our powers our irises change colour, but, your entire eye changes colour.” Buds said, but not out loud, directly into your head.  
“But why?” you asked aloud, staring back at her.  
“I think…I think you may be the one with two souls, I was told that there would be one, but, I didn’t realize…” Buds took a deep breath and smiled at you. “Let’s finish up this meal and then we’ll all go back to my place and I’ll explain everything I can, just not here.”  
“O-Okay,” you muttered.  
“Sleepover at my house after!” Buds said cheerfully, the others seemed to take some meaning from that because they changed the subject and began asking you about your major and how exams were going.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
The second you got into Buds’ house you turned on the four of them.  
“What the fuck do you mean two souls?” you demanded  
“What?!”  
“Buds what is she talking about?”  
“Two souls? But I thought…”  
Everyone stared at Buds, she sighed, looking very tired, and slumped down in her chair.  
“Everyone, but you knows this Monks, but along with communication with you I can also communicate with God, or more so he can communicate with me directly. He created us with specially created soul fragments. Each of us has our predestined soul, as well as a soul fragment within our being. If you synthesize your soul, which happens automatically in your twentieth year, you can use your powers. We were created as a sort of soldier to help rid the world or unwanted souls. Part of that is helping ghosts to move on to the afterlife, but the other part of it is seeking out and destroying the demons of hell. We are all still human, just with more soul the norm. But you,” she said, turning toward you, “you have two souls. He-He did tell me about you, b-but I had forgotten after all this time. You, have more power than any of us, then any of us could ever dream of having.”  
You decided that if you hadn’t gone crazy yet that now you definitely had. You had 100% snapped and now you were insane, completely and utterly.  
“That explains the eyes,” Heathie said quietly, looking at you. “It must have to do with the two whole souls.”  
“It does,” said Buds, “but that power will be very difficult to control, any emotional outbursts could become disastrously violent.”  
You swallowed hard.  
“But that’s why you’re the last,” Buds continued, with a weary smile, “we’ve all been through it, we’ll help you to control and train your powers. That we can do.”  
“So,” you said looking around at the rest of them, “when do we start?”  
\----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The next month was an eventful one, if nothing else. Your headaches, it turned out, had been the result of pent up soul energy and what would happen if you ever went too long with your souls synthesized without using your powers. Heathie taught you how to un and re synthesize your souls and explained that if they weren’t synthesized it would be a lot harder for demons and ghosts to detect you. You gained the rest of your powers as well. It turns out that you were what the group deemed an “expeller.” Aside from the telekinesis (which you found you could use against demons to keep them from escaping) you could read souls and detect ghosts and demons, you could expel unwanted energies from both bodies and buildings. You could send souls to heaven, but you could also damn souls, which didn’t send them anywhere but destroyed them completely. Luckily any emotional outbursts so far had just been you throwing things around with your mind and no accidental damnation.  
In the middle of May the group took you camping up on Mt. Ebott. Apparently they had done it the last four years and now it was a tradition, you figured if you argued they’d make you go anyway and it would be a nice break from all the training before starting work like a normal human being. Heh, normal.  
In the evening glow of a warm Saturday in May, you began to hike the short distance to the top from your campsite, it was only a half hour walk and the view at the top was beautiful. You recalled as you made to step forward while at the summit a playground rumour that those who climbed the mountain never came back. You also remembered an old story about a war with monsters that your mother used to tell you, and a game that it reminded you of that you had played years later.  
You stepped forward and a root that you swore wasn’t there a second ago tripped you, you tried to catch your footing on the ground but your foot went right through the moss.  
And you fell.


	2. Chapter 1: Fallen Down

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That actual Undertale stuff begins! Also Goat Mom and Moldsmals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay the story is actually beginning! I'm sorry no flame man just yet, but you will be meeting him very soon! Along with the smol skeleton. Anyway, enjoy Moldsmals, Goat Mom, and creepy Flowey.  
> Also the song titles as chapter titles refer to what happens in the chapter, not necessarily the part that song would show up in in terms of the actual game.  
> Enjoy!

You felt like your life should be flashing before your eyes, but all you could see was the light above you growing farther and farther away from you. You wondered what was beneath you; maybe it was like that video game you had played one time, about the monsters under the mountain, what was it called?

Your souls weren’t synthesized but you figured it was better that way, if you did survive, well you had no idea what was down below, probably a better idea not to at the moment, that last thing you needed was a pile of demons on your tail when you landed.

After a moment longer an immense pain spread across your back and the world went black.  
\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Your eyes fluttered open. The first thing you noticed was the bed underneath you, which you had definitely not landed on when you fell. You pushed yourself up into a sitting position and looked around, noticing that your body was still sore, but by no means were you dead, man, how long had you been out for to be this well healed? You were pretty sure you had cracked your skull when you hit the ground and yet, your head felt fine, weird.

You looked around the room. There were teddy bears between the bed and the wall. Next to you was a wardrobe, past that shelf with dusty picture frames on top of it. You saw an old drawing of a flower on the wall and lamp in the far corner. By the door there was a chair that seemed out of place somehow, it had a beautiful floor length yellow dress laying on top of it, your shoes sat beside the chair. The floor was covered in a large rug. And in the center of it was a piece of pie, letting off steam. There was a small note beside it, which you got up and grabbed before eating the pie.

“Eat this pie, it is butterscotch-cinnamon and it will help you to finish healing. When you are ready there is a dress that I think will fit you well on the chair near the door, if you need to clean up there is a bathroom if you turn left and go to the end of the hall. Come to the living room when you are ready.  
~Toriel”

Your body went cold, Toriel, where did you know that name from? Why was it so familiar? Did it have to do with that video game? That was just a game though, it wasn’t real, it couldn’t be.

You swallowed hard.

Up until a month ago, you thought telekinesis, ghosts, and demons, weren’t real.

Well, whatever this monster - creature - person - thing, was it didn’t kill you, in fact it might have saved your life, so you supposed you could trust it, for now anyway.

You ate the pie and instantly felt much better, it seemed to dissolve in your mouth but still left you feeling full, strange.

You moved over to the dress and picked it up, it was very pretty, you figured you would give it a try since your clothes were so dirty. You headed out the door and made your way into the bathroom, feeling thankful that the creature needed a regular bathroom just like you did. You got cleaned up and it had never felt so good in your life to be clean, but here you were, basking in the feeling. You got out and put on the dress and headed slowly out into the living room.

A large goat monster who you assumed was Toriel sat in a large cushy chair but the fireplace.

“Up already, I see?” she said in a kind voice looking up from her book.

That’s when it hit you, Undertale, that had been the name of the game! You had fallen down Mt. Ebott and now you were in the underground, the ruins to be precise, but the fall must have hurt you badly because normally you explored the ruins alone, at least in the game you did.

Your jaw must have been hanging open because she looked at you with concern in her eyes. 

“Are you alright, my child?” You snapped your mouth shut and nodded, this was a lot to process, and that was saying something.

“Do you speak? Or, are you like the last child to fall down here?” assuming the fans were right about the main character being mute you figured that Frisk had already been through the ruins, but all the monsters were still underground, so the kid couldn’t have been down here for very long.

“No, I-I do.” You introduced yourself to her. “I’m just…still processing everything. Where, am I?” Of course you already knew where you were, and the whole story behind the game was starting to come back to you. But she didn't know that, and for now at least, she didn't need to. It would probably be better for everyone if you pretended not to know anything. You thanked your lucky stars that your souls had been unsynthesized when you fell.

“You are in the ruins, my child.” She said kindly. “Specifically you are in my home. I saw you falling and while the flowers at the bottom cushioned your fall, you were still badly injured from the impact.” She paused, seeming to look right through you.

You shifted, a little uncomfortable, “well, thank you for the pie, a-and for healing me, which I’m gonna guess you did.”

“There is something unusual about you, isn’t there?” 

“W-What do you mean?” She couldn't actually see your second soul could she? Could all monsters? Would all of them know?

“There is something...strange about your soul. I have a feeling you could be much stronger than you appear to be.”

You swallowed hard, unsure what to say. She definitely knew about your second soul. But, after watching you for a moment more she looked away and her expression softened. “I am more perceptive to souls than most monsters my child, whatever else is within you will be hidden from most. But I will not force you to tell me or show me until you are ready.”

You sighed loudly and Toriel smiled, for now, you wouldn’t worry about your souls, and she didn’t seem to want to hurt you, so you figured you’d probably tell her about it before you left the ruins in any case.

Toriel jumped up from her chair, “I almost forgot! I made you breakfast my child.”   
You followed her curiously into the kitchen where she presented you with a plate of pancakes and bacon on a plate. The two of you headed back into the living room and you took a seat at the table. As you ate Toriel explained to you that monsters will enter into battle with you occasionally and that all you have to do is chat with them until you can spare them, or until she came to help.

“You are not,” she said sternly, “to kill them, no matter what.”

You put your fork down, “I wasn’t planning on hurting anyone.” You told her honestly. You had already decided that that was the best way to do this.

Toriel smiled at you kindly, “good.” she said simply. “Now, the ruins are full of puzzles. I will ask you not to stray too far from the house for the time being, not unless I have deactivated the puzzles.” You agreed not to go too far for the moment. “Now, I have things to attend to today, so I will leave you alone for the morning,” she said, getting up and moving toward the door. “oh, and your phone is on the table.” You looked around the centerpiece to see it on the far side of the table, you looked up again but she had already left. You unlock your phone, which has full battery? At this point, you weren’t gonna question it. You checked but, no signal, and no internet, and you didn’t want to synthesize just yet, so it looked like, at least for now no one would know where you were, not that they would believe you, this was crazy, even for you.

You headed out the front door and looked above the doorway, the sign said ‘Home.’ You headed down the path up to a tree with no leaves on it, though it was surrounded by red leaves on the ground. You walked through an archway when you almost tripped on what looked like a bowl shaped jell-o. 

Before you had a chance to realize it was in fact a creature you had been entered into a battle with it. Somewhere in your memory you recalled the name Moldsmal. It waited for you to make a move and you decided to lay down beside it and stare upwards. It seemed to enjoy the company and when you got up, understanding the world just a little bit better, it threw only a few, feeble attacks your way.

“I don’t want to fight you.” you told the Moldsmal, and it seemed to relax, if something akin to jell-o could relax. It slid closer to you and wiggled, you giggled and wiggled back, unsure if that counted as a conversation or not. The Moldsmal wiggled it’s way under your hand, it seemed to enjoy having your hand rest on top of it, and you didn’t mind. It had the consistency of jell-o but it wasn’t slimy at all. You laid down on the ground with your head on some leaves and began to think about the last month of your life. None of it sounded real and yet, here you were, laid down beside a Moldsmal, a creature from a freaking video game, scratch that, not a video game, real life. How did no one know about this? How had humans not found this place? Well if the game’s lore was correct, and you were inclined to believe it was, then eight humans had fallen into the ruins already, and all of them, except for Frisk, were dead.

There was another thing you had noticed, there were no save points for you. It seemed that only one person could have control of the timeline at once and currently that person was Frisk, so you couldn’t die, if you did, you wouldn’t come back. Then again, if need be you could use both souls, you just felt that it was safer to use the one if you could manage it.

You heard someone say something, but the voice was so soft that you couldn’t make out what it was saying. You sat up and three Moldsmals fell off of you, looking around you you realized there were at least eight others sitting around you. When had they gotten there? Did you fall asleep? You decided that contemplating the universe and your life had taken you out of it for longer than you thought. Looking up, you realized there was a small fairy type creature in front of you.

“I’m W-Whimsun,” it said meekly, “a-and your a-a-a human, s-so I h-have t-t-to f-fight you.”

“Whimsun,” you said kindly, “you don’t have to fight me, I won’t try to hurt you.”

The Whimsun sighed and landed, looking relieved. It gave you some gold in return for not making it fight. “Th-Thank you, I didn’t want to fight you.” 

“That’s alright,” you told it, “I didn’t want to fight you either.” You could swear the Whimsun smiled at you. “But, uh, do you know why I’m covered in Moldsmals?” you asked.

“The one Moldsmal called for it’s friends and told them you were a friend to them all, and I think they like you, I’ve n-never seen this many together before.”

You giggled, at least they weren’t all trying to kill you. Just as you were about to ask the Whimsun another question your stomach growled, you looked up, but it had already flown off. You sighed, lifting yourself up off the ground and headed back up to the house, only realizing after you got to the door that your little army of Moldsmals had followed you. 

“Oh!” you exclaimed, as you noticed them crowding around you.

“Oh my,” Toriel chuckled, appearing from the living room. “It seems you’ve made some friends. Alright you lot, shoo, she’ll be back to play again tomorrow.” The Moldsmals all began to slide away from the door and back into the ruins. You followed Toriel inside the little house and found a sandwich waiting for you on the table. You ate it up quickly, suddenly realizing how hungry you actually were.

“How long was I outside?” you asked between bites.

“All morning and much of the afternoon, it is already nearing dinner time.” Toriel responded, her nose in a book.

You made your way over to the fireplace and sat on the floor, looking up at her. You took a deep breath. “Toriel?” She looked up from her book. “H-How many humans have fallen into the ruins?”

Her expression hardened, she looked toward you, but did not meet your eye. “Eight, you are the ninth.”

“Can you tell me about the others?”

She stared at for a moment before a pained expression came across her face.   
“What would you like to know?” 

“W-Why haven’t any returned to the surface?” You knew why, Asgore had to have killed them, but maybe the game was wrong, maybe they lived down here, somewhere.

She looked away, “They are dead, all but possibly one.”

“Possibly one?”

“Frisk, the last child to fall into the ruins, they left the ruins and entered the rest of the Underground only days ago. They were strong, and have more determination than I had ever seen a human have, but I’m afraid it is no use, they will meet the same fate.”

“But why would they? You don’t think they can break the barrier and free everyone?”

“You don’t honestly think,” Toriel said darkly, “that a child, one single human, stands a chance against Asgore, the King of all monsters do you?” You swore there were tears in her eyes.

“Well,” you shifted, a little, “what about two humans?”

She stared at you in shock for a moment. Then shook her head sharply. “Go to your room.” she said, shakily, “now.”

You did as you were told, figuring it wasn’t worth it to argue, not tonight anyway. You spent the rest of the afternoon and evening in your room pacing. You had thought, maybe you could get out of the ruins without having to fight her, you knew for a fact you wouldn’t survive the battle with her without both of your souls. You had hoped she would let you go and catch up with Frisk and work with them to take down the barrier. And yet Toriel hadn't let you go. Maybe it was because she didn’t know how this could end, or that it could end well. You knew, in the end, that she just wanted to save someone, just once, just one human, and you almost wanted to stay, and be that for her, but…  
You couldn’t shake the feeling that there was some reason for you falling, you had a purpose down here, you just knew it, if only you could figure out what.   
You settled into bed early that day, and decided that you’d leave the ruins tomorrow, before Toriel could do anything drastic.

You awoke and checked your phone, it was 7 in the morning. Across the room the chair from yesterday had your own clothes, cleaned and mended, waiting for you. You ran to the bathroom and showered quickly and then went out into the living to find...Toriel, dammit, you’d hoped she would still be in bed.

“Good morning.” she said kindly.

“Morning,” you replied. You ate in silence and then went back to your room for your bag. You quickly ran down the stairs and down the hallway, hoping against hope that Toriel hadn’t destroyed the door.

But of course, since you had zero luck, the door was still there, along with Toriel guarding it.

“I had a feeling you would come down here.” she said cooly. “You want to help the other human, fine, prove to me that you can.”

Before you could say anything else she had challenged you to a battle.

“Toriel! I won’t fight you.” 

She said nothing, but fired attack after attack at you, slowly lowering your HP. You continued to tell her that you didn’t want to fight her but she was past the point of listening. You were panting, trying to dodge her attacks, but now covered in burn marks and your HP was dwindling, one more hit and you would die, and for you there was no resets, no save points, you’d be gone, just like that.

You had no choice.

With the energy you had left you focused inward and felt a sudden strength. You stood taller and with your telekinesis pushed her attacks to either side. You looked up to meet her eyes and she was staring at you in awe, her next attack forgotten.

“I told you. I will not fight you!” You took a deep breath, “Toriel, I’m sparing you.”

She lowered her hands. “I see, you were just hiding your true power.” You noticed that she seemed a bit frightened.

You took a moment to separate your souls and swayed on the spot for a moment before catching yourself. Toriel rushed over, putting a paw to your forehead, warmth washed over you and you soon felt able to hold yourself up, so that was how she had healed you. “I don’t intend to attack, and I don’t want to freak out the other monsters, so i decided to keep my powers a secret. it was for the best. I may still only use them in emergencies.”

Toriel nodded, stepping back from you. “Well, you’ve proved yourself. Take care of yourself, and Frisk…”

“Toriel,” you cried, hugging her, “we will be okay, and we’ll free everyone, once and for all, everyone is finally going to get out of the Underground.”

She pulled away and stared at you for a long moment. Finally she said “Always stay this determined, my child.” And with that, she walked down the hallway and around the corner, you considered chasing after her, but had a feeling she would already be gone.

You turned to the door and took a deep breath, pushing it open. You walked into a dark room where a little flower popped up in front of you.  
“Howdy, I’m Flowey,” it said. You were unnerved. “I don’t believe we’ve met yet. I would have remembered someone like you, your soul is very... interesting, isn’t it.”

You felt cold, if you hadn’t been unnerved before you were now.

“You aren't a normal part of the story, you shouldn’teven be down here, and yet,” it’s eyes narrowed. “Here you are.”

You swallowed hard.

“But no matter,” it said, smiling, “we’ll figure out your secrets soon enough, so watch your back.” Flowey popped back into the ground before you could say anything. Well, you were going to have nightmares tonight. What did it mean we? Didn’t Flowey work alone in the Pacifist Route?

You continued forward but didn’t meet the flower again. Soon you made it to the doorway, and, with a deep breath, walked through.


	3. Chapter 2: Stronger Monsters

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What a warm welcome.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So you finally meet Grillby and Sans!
> 
> Please note there is some violence and injuries in this chapter, also a mention of depression so be forewarned.

On the other side of the door was snow and ice, you shivered, pulling your light jacket tighter around you and feeling thankful it had been a cold enough spring that you still had to wear a jacket in the middle of May. It took a few moments for your eyes to adjust to so much light after being in the ruins and you wondered how on earth it was so bright down here without any sunlight. That thought made you a bit anxious, there was no sunlight down here. Just the decreased sunlight in the winter was enough to send your mood spiralling downward. You took a deep breath, you were sure you would be fine, everything would be fine, you could handle this, you were sure of it.

So maybe you were lying to yourself a little.

Maybe a lot.

You decided that you’d cross that bridge when you got to it and for the time being you were going to go and find Frisk, that was your goal right now.

You began to walk slowly through the snow, hearing only the soft crunching under your feet and the sound of your own breaths. This is where you would meet Sans the skeleton, you thought, this was the part of the game where he showed up, offering you a handshake and pranking you with a whoopee cushion. You wondered how the interaction would go, since that was how he greeted Frisk in their playthroughs. Would he greet you the same way? The thought occurred to you that Toriel probably hadn’t told him about you, hadn’t told him to keep you safe, not that you needed it, you could take care of yourself. You wondered how he’d feel about you being in the story, you knew that you weren’t part of the normal timelines, any of them. You thought back to how Flowey had known too and shivered, possibly from the cold, possibly from the unnerving feeling that flower gave you, probably from both.

You felt something under your foot and looked down, it was a branch, it looked pretty sturdy. You stood on top of it with both feet and it held you up, not even cracking. You hopped off, that branch was a lot tougher than it looked. 

You continued to walk until you heard a loud snap behind you. You swiveled around to look for the source of the noise, feeling uneasy. You spotted the branch, which was now lying in pieces across the pathway. You ran back over to it picking up the pieces and staring at it, incredulously, it had held up with your whole weight on it, and yet, now it was snapped, like a twig.

You swallowed hard.  
Did Sans do that? You had never played a genocide run before, but had heard that the little skeleton put up quite the battle. Maybe this was a bad idea, you looked back the way you had come. But...you couldn’t go back, not now, Toriel probably wouldn’t even let you in, you had to keep going forward. 

You continued down the path, picking up your pace a bit. The air was starting to feel funny, and there was a strange crackling and popping sound coming from it. You were almost on the bridge with the trap too large for humans when something stopped you.

“H u m a n.” a low voice spoke menacingly.

You spun around and found yourself face to face with a small skeleton wearing a blue jacket, track pants, and fuzzy pink slippers. His outfit would have sent you into a fit of laughter if you weren’t so terrified of his expression. His left eye-socket was pitch black, his right eye-socket was glowing blue and the air all around him was crackling with energy and electricity.

Well fuck.

“W h a t a r e y o u d o i n g h e r e? Y o u s h o u l d n ‘ t b e h e r e.” he spoke slowly, angrily.

You wanted to scream, or run, or do something but felt frozen with fear, trapped as he moved toward you slowly. You tried to say something but no sounds left your mouth.

“You don’t belong in this timeline, do you?” he snarled. “So why are you here?” Your feet left the ground as you were suspended a few feet off the ground. You struggled, to no avail. “I don’t know who you are, but I won’t let you destroy our happy ending.”

A scream finally left your lips as your body flew to the right, completely out of your control. You didn’t have long to register what was happening before your right side collided with a tree and you felt bones cracking. The sound of breaking bones echoed throughout your body. You let out a cry of pain as your body slumped to the ground, cracking the bones in your right leg further.

“Please,” you gasped, “I haven’t hurt...I‘m here to...help Frisk.” The pain was almost unbearable, but if you said nothing he would kill you for sure.

A look of surprise crossed his face as he hurried toward you. “How do you know about Frisk? What do you know about Frisk?”

“Child...fell in the ruins...hasn’t killed. I...just want...to...help.” You were fighting to remain conscious, the pain threatening to consume you. “I...haven’t...killed.”

As he stared at you, worry began to creep across his face. He tried to pick you up using his magic but you began to panic, the magic, the electricity in the air, he was going to kill you. You screamed and he dropped you back to the ground again, causing another wave of pain.

He took a deep breath, and you would contemplate later on why, and lifted you up with his magic, floating you on your back.

You began to scream again but the pain coupled with the panic was too much and the world went black.  
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Sans ran toward Snowdin as fast as his legs would carry him, your unconscious form floated just behind. He was grimacing, this was the most exercise he’d done in a long time.

He resisted the urge to look back at you, least he run into anything, least he injure you even further.

He had fucked up this time, he really had. You had no EXP, no LV, and your HP was low to begin with, but he had attacked you without even trying to get a read on you first, he had just been so scared. Finally that demonic thing was gone and it was just the merciful kid left over. What if it, if Chara, was living inside you? What if you had killed everyone still in the ruins? He hadn’t been about to let you waltz through and steal his happiness, steal everything he loved, everything he held dear. The story was finally going well, after watching everyone die, timeline after timeline, he was finally getting his happy ending. He just hadn’t wanted you to ruin that.   
But...thinking about it now, he should have given you a chance. You hadn’t hurt a single monster, not one.

And now you were dieing slowly. What had he done?

Sans burst into Grillby’s, the local bar, and called across the room to the bartender.  
“Grillby, you can’t open today, I...I need your help.” 

Seeing as it was still morning the bar hadn’t opened yet. The owner, Grillby, stood behind the bar, organizing the counter and cleaning glasses, he looked up in alarm when Sans entered.

Sans brought you closer. “You gotta help her. I-I really fucked up this time Grillbz.” Sans said in a shaky voice.

Grillby looked at you for a moment and swallowed, how long had it been since he had healed a human? He couldn’t recall. After a moment though, he nodded.

“Alright.” he said in a steady tone. “Place her on the table.” Anyone who did not know him would have been impressed by his calmness and collected-ness, but Sans, having known Grillby for longer than he could remember, could tell by the way the flames on his head flickered low and quick that he was nervous and uncomfortable.

Grillby stared at you for a few minutes assessing the damage. “She has several broken bones, not to mention some that are practically shattered. There is some sort of injury to her head, and quite a bit of bruising. Her HP is down to one.” He turned to Sans. “What did you do to her?”

Sans shifted uncomfortably, but said nothing. Grillby sighed. “Alright then, well you may be able to redeem yourself yet from...whatever you did.” Sans looked up hopefully. “I’ll need you to...hold things in place, while I mend them.” Sans’ face fell.

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” he muttered.

“And why is that?” Grillby questioned, suspiciously.

“She’s, ah, afraid of it.”

Grillby stared hard at Sans for a moment. “Well, either way I’ll still need you. Can you get her jacket off?”

Sans reluctantly stepped forward, lifting your form gently and removing your jacket and sweater. Grillby pushed up your shirt to reveal the skin over your ribs. He instructed Sans on how to hold your bones in place while he healed and the two got to work.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Your entire side ached, why? Your head was throbbing with pain and your leg still hurt immensely. 

Something started to come back to you. Something about magic and Sans and broken bones.

Sans! Broken bones! He had broken your bones hadn’t he? Had he? You thought so, and you figured you had to leave before he tried to kill you.

You opened your eyes and your vision was blurry, you tried to move but your limbs were held down to the table. You struggled, eyes watering from the pain.

“S-She’s awake!” that voice was familiar. That voice belonged to someone who had tried to kill you. You struggled harder.

“Oh dear,” said a soft, calming voice, somewhat deep, it reminded you of smoke, though you weren’t sure how.

Something bright was moving toward your face. Something that looked like fire. You tried to pull away but the flames landed on your forehead nonetheless. Before you could register that the flames hadn’t burned you the world went black once more.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“G-Grillby, was that safe?” Sans asked.

“No,” he replied, “but I had no choice, she would have hurt herself further. The spell I put on her should keep her asleep long enough to finish the healing and to allow her to rest through the night.”

They worked on in silence, slowly healing all of your bones and bruises, it was into the night before they finished.

Grillby sat back in a nearby booth. He was exhausted, he knew that that much healing at once was too much, but he couldn’t just leave you. Your HP was back up. It wasn’t at full, which he supposed was because of the head injury, but it was close. Sans was looking at Grillby with concern.

“That was a lot of work, Grillbz, you okay?”

Grillby nodded, he barely had the strength to speak. Luckily, Sans caught on.  
“Is she staying in your spare room?” He asked. Grillby nodded again. “I’ll take her up for you then.” He said.

Grillby looked at him kindly, silently thanking the small skeleton. He made sure the doors were locked then headed around back to his apartment, which was off the back of the bar. Sans brought you through and took you to the spare bedroom. He laid you gently on the bed as Grillby dragged a chair into the corner of the room.

“You’re gonna watch over her, huh?” Sans asked. Grillby nodded wearily. “Well,” Sans continued, “Don’t, burn yourself out.” Grillby shot Sans a tired glare, but Sans heard the quiet crackling of fire that was Grillby’s chuckle and grinned. “I’ll...check in on you two soon. Okay?” Grillby gave one last nod before Sans disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Grillby stared across the room at you, lying on the bed. What had Sans done to you? Did he even want to know? He knew his skeletal friend could be a bit overprotective of his loved ones at times, but he had never seen Sans do something like this before. Grillby sighed, too tired to dwell on it and drifted off to sleep.  
\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Your eyes fluttered open and you looked around, your vision was still a little blurry but you could make out the warm earth tones decorating the room. You felt warm and cozy but this place was still unfamiliar. You struggled to remember where you were. 

Before you got any farther though you saw fire in the corner and jumped. 

The figure raised their hands. “Please, I won’t hurt you, but I fear that you have a head injury and I would like to heal it. May I?”

You swallowed and nodded slowly. The figure moved to sit near you on the bed. You flinched when a fiery hand landed on your shoulder, but it didn’t hurt, it was just pleasantly warm.   
“Now,” said the voice calmly. “Just focus on me.” You tried to focus your double vision on the fiery being and began to feel warmth all throughout your body. A feeling of calm and bliss came over you as you stared into the fire. 

Soon your head began to clear and you were able to focus on a pair of bright white eyes in the flames. Before you was a man of fire, he wore sweatpants and a t-shirt. Finally he pulled away to replace his glasses on his face, hiding eyes that had you hypnotized  
.   
“You’re eyes are really beautiful.” You mumbled.

The fire being’s face became tinted with blue, was that a blush?

“A-Ah, thank you.” He muttered. “I’m Grillby, Sans brought you into my bar yesterday and you were quite badly injured. I’ve healed you, but you’ll need to take it easy for a while to let all the healing set, not to mention I need to monitor the healing of your concussion.”

You nodded shakily, slowly remembering everything that had happened. Sans, The magic. The tree. And something about being stuck to a table.

“I-Is Sans...is he around?”

“No,” answered Grillby simply. “He may be later today. Why?”

“N-No reason.” You said, fidgeting with your shirt and looking anywhere but Grillby.

Grillby seemed to study you. “What happened? What did he do?”

“I-I don’t...it’s not...can w-we…”

“Don’t worry,” Grillby said quietly. “I won’t pressure you to tell me. When you’re ready, I’ll be waiting.”

You sighed with relief and Grillby seemed to brighten. Maybe that was his way of smiling.

“Now, come with me, I have breakfast prepared for you.” He said, getting up and heading for the door.

Normally, you would have protested and told him he had already done enough, but considering everything you’d been through you figured you should just take the offer.

You sighed and followed him out toward the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 3: Unnecessary Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You hang out with Grillby and learn a bit about monster culture.  
> You also get flustered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I swear you were gonna meet Paps. but then the fluster war happened. It's alright, we'l meet him next chapter.
> 
> Also, fun fact, I have an alternate title for each of the chapters so far  
> This ones is "Unnecessary Sexual Tension"
> 
> Also Reader uses music and singing to calm down when they're anxious pretty often so whenever they sing something I will link a video here if you want to hear the song.
> 
> For this Chapter you'll need https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEtscBET5-w

Grillby stopped before entering the kitchen and turned toward you. He gestured toward the table pointedly and you went and sat down. The man of fire disappeared into the kitchen for a moment and came back with a plate of bacon and pancakes, which he placed in front of you gently. As you dug into your breakfast Grillby sat across from you and opened a book that looked to be quite old and well-loved. You stared across the table at the cover of the book trying to decipher what it said. It took you longer then it should have to realize that the title wasn’t in English, hell some of the characters didn’t exist in English. Maybe that concussion was still affecting you? But didn’t Grillby heal you? You didn’t understand how monster magic and healing worked and many people who get concussions are affected for months or even years after getting a bad concussion so maybe there would be side effects no matter what healing he did.

You noticed Grillby watching you curiously, and you realized you’d been staring intently at the cover of the book for a good few minutes now.

You could have head-desked but, you know, concussion.

“I-ah I was just wondering what the cover said, and what language it’s in. A lot of the alphabet looks a lot like English, but I don’t recognize all the characters.”

“It’s an old language, a hybrid between English and the most used monster language of the time.” he replied.

Another thought occurred to you. “How come all of you speak English? If you had your own languages why did learn one of ours? I mean, not that you can’t but it seems like all of you speak English and I haven’t heard anyone speak anything else. And what-” You stopped. Grillby had been doing his best to let you get all of your questions out before trying to answer but now he had a hand over the space where his mouth would be, the flames that made up his face were burning brightly and a loud crackling sound was coming from him, like the sound of a bonfire.

Was he laughing?

That had to be laughing.

“I-I apologize,” he said, keeping the hand in front of his face, “I didn’t mean to interrupt you, you were just so animated, and so eager to know more, that was just...cute.” His face was tinted slightly blue.

Your face, however, was completely red. “I-I-ah, th-thanks.” was all you managed to say before falling silent.

Grillby set down his book and looked up at you thoughtfully, “At the time, learning English seemed like the best thing to do, on the surface, before the w-war,” he stumbled over the word “we often spoke the languages of the humans that we lived closest to. Many monster languages are species specific and not everyone has the ability to speak all of them, but most monsters can speak in human languages. When the English explorers came, we thought it would be wise to learn their language, we thought it may help them to accept us...we...were wrong.” he fell silent.

“Oh,” was all you could manage.

A moment of awkward silence passed.

“What did you mean by species specific languages?” you offered.

“Monsters often fall into groups, there are skeletal monsters, ghost monsters, elemental monsters,” he motioned to himself, “animal monsters, and so on. Most monsters have a natural language which is often their first language, those of the same species or type can understand these languages.”

Some part of your brain figured you should stop asking him questions. There had to be a line and you didn’t want to cross it, but you were hanging off of every word he said and you just wanted to keep him talking, he was like a fireplace, keeping you calm.

“Can I hear some of yours?”

He turned his face away from you, he dimmed and the flames on his head lowered and flickered ever so slightly faster.

Yeah, that was the line.

Again, you wanted to head-desk.

Again, concussion.

“A-Another time perhaps.” He muttered, he had removed his hand from his face a while ago but it was back now. “Besides, I have to go meet Sans.”

At the mention of his name a shiver ran down your back. You crossed your arms over yourself and began to tap your foot nervously.

“He won’t come here,” Grillby reassured you, noticing your anxiety, “He did want to know that you were okay, whatever it was that he did, he seems to be quite remorseful.”

You were conflicted. From the game you knew that he was a pretty good guy and he loved his brother very much. You thought about what he had said. “I won’t let you destroy our happy ending.” You also recalled what Flowey had said to you, “You shouldn’t even be down here.” It seemed that Sans had just wanted to protect everyone, and after who knows how many genocide runs, could you blame him.

But still, the idea of being around him made you incredibly anxious, and the idea of his magic-

You shivered.

“I’ll only be out for a little bit, I need to do something at the bar as well.” He continued.

“Alright,” you muttered, shifting awkwardly, then a question came to mind and you looked up asking “what are yo-” But he was gone.

You hugged yourself a little tighter, you felt like you had to leave at some point, it was nice of him to take care of you but you were hardly in the place to return the favour, so maybe you should just get out of his hair, er flames, as soon as possibly. Not to mention that you did have to find Frisk.

That being said you really didn’t want to have to leave. He was so interesting and calming to be around, and those eyes.

In the end you decided to see if Grillby’s shower and other bathroom facilities worked, figuring that a shower might help you to clear your head.

Luckily for you, they did. The hot water running over your body relaxed you, though not as much as the man of flames, which was bad, you shouldn’t be that dependent on a person that you just met.

You hummed a handful of tunes tunes while showering but toward the end of your shower decided to actually sing something. After all Grillby was still out, and singing had always calmed you down.

 

Every time you talk to me   
I see those big brown batters   
You can almost guarantee   
I'll be at a loss for words

Every time you walk my way  
I get all flustered  
I just don't know what to say  
When I wanna flirt with you

Oh Jeepers Creepers  
Where'd you get those peepers  
Jeepers Creepers  
Where'd you get those eyes  
Oh gosh, oh get up, how'd they get so lit up  
Gosh oh get up how'd they get that size

Every time you make a move  
It's like I'm frozen  
Cause you are oh so smooth, you got me paralyzed  
Glad you set me in your sights cause you're so charming  
When your look locks into mine  
I'm still taken by surprise

Oh Jeepers Creepers  
Where'd you get those peepers  
Jeepers Creepers  
Where'd you get those eyes  
Oh gosh, oh get up, how'd they get so lit up  
Gosh oh get up how'd they get that-

 

You had stepped out of the shower and immediately frozen, your clothes were gone and there were clean, neatly folded clothes that looked too big for you. Grillby must have left you clean clothes to change into, the shower had an opaque curtain, so you weren’t concerned about that, but, he had heard you sing. Even if he had put the clothes in before you sang, it still meant he was in the apartment.

You took a deep breath, it wasn’t like he was going to hate you for singing, you just, weren’t used to an audience.

It was fine, you weren’t panicking

You were panicking a little.

You finished getting dressed and you walked out to the living room, feeling a little nervous. Grillby was relaxing on the couch, you cleared your throat, Grillby turned.

“Thanks for the clothes, you didn’t have to do that though, I could have just put my own back on.”

“Yours need to be cleaned and repaired before you even think about wearing them again, I don’t know what they’ve been through, but it looks like a lot.” he replied simply.

“Well,” you said, sitting down. “it was a bit weird that you were in there while I was in the shower.”

Grillby’s face turned a vivid blue and the flames on his head wooshed upwards and then lowered slightly and flickered quickly, his hand was up to his mouth in an instant. “I-I didn’t! I-I-I m-mean I wasn’t! I w-would n-never t-try t-t-” he fell silent, looking embarrassed.

You, on the other hand, were laughing your ass off. Geez, you hadn’t expected that much of a reaction.

Finally you calmed down enough to speak, “Aw, I didn’t think you would, I just thought I’d mention it because it is a little strange, but damn, you’re real cute when you’re flustered.” You had always had a habit of flirting shamelessly with your friends once you got comfortable, and the man of fire sure did make you relaxed.

At the word “cute” his flames had wooshed again and he had buried his very blue face in his hands. It had sent you into another fit of giggles.

As much fun as this was, you would probably get kicked out if you continued on like this. So, maybe it was time to tone it down, at least for the time being.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing at you.” You said, trying to hold down you’re giggles.

“It’s alright,” he said quietly, lowering his hands a little to look up at you, “your laugh is quite intoxicating.” Now it was your turn. You could feel your face heating up, had he noticed? Judging from the crackling coming from him you guessed he had.

“A-Ah Thank you.” you mumbled. You tried to look anywhere but him.

Grillby leaned in a little, still a bit blue, but definitely not blushing as hard as you were, you could have swore he was smirking at you. Damn, how had the tables been turned so quickly? “If you think I’m cute when I’m flustered, you should yourself.”

You almost fell off the couch diving toward the other end and burying your face in the pillows before he caught a glimpse at your incredibly flushed you were. The crackling behind you intensified. Fine, if it was a fluster war he wanted then it was a fluster war he would get, he may have won the battle, but the war was far from over.

“By the way,” Grillby added. “you have a beautiful voice.”


	5. Chapter 4: Small Shock

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grillby really likes your singing and you finally meet Papyrus!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got distracted again by writing cute fluffy stuff but finally Papyrus!
> 
> You'll need this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vY06b4MDYjc
> 
> And this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5BIpHulB1X8
> 
> For those of you who don't read French the translation for the songs will be in the notes at the end of the chapter.

It took you a while to calm down after that, not to mention he’d complimented your singing. You knew your voice was okay, you could definitely hold a tune (those piano lessons had been good for something) but you had never considered it “beautiful,” so that may have thrown you off a bit more then you had expected. You also decided that if you tried to continue the fluster war now you would most definitely lose, he was too good at it, you’d have to catch him off guard to even stand a chance against him.

So, once you were composed again, and your face no longer felt like the inside of an oven, you sat up on the far end of the couch from Grillby. He was still chuckling. If his laughter wasn’t such a wonderful sound you would be so annoyed right now.

“Ah, I apologize, although,” he chuckled again, “you did start it.”

“That’s only if you don’t count laughing at me during breakfast.” you replied, glancing at him.

“Oh,” he said. “I suppose you’re right.” He looked away, fixing his glasses which had fallen askew in his laughter. “Then I am sorry, that, may have been a bit much.”

“I mean,” you muttered, “I did join in.”

“So you did.”

There was a pause, though it was less awkward than the one that morning.

“So, do you have to work today?” you asked , slightly hesitantly. You figured he did, especially since it was morning, and if he had healed you… You realized that he must have spent all of yesterday healing you.

“No, the bar is closed for today and tomorrow so I can keep an eye on you.”

“What? No!” you exclaimed, turning to him. “You can’t! You must have had it closed all of yesterday to heal me! And you’ve fed me and given me somewhere to sleep!”

Grillby rested his hand on you gently, “Sans brought you to me barely alive. He knew that I was the closest person who could and would heal you. If I had refused…” he trailed off.

Again, “oh,” was all you could manage.

“I was able to heal you, however I need to monitor you to make sure the healing actually goes properly. Not to mention it...took a lot out of me.” He turned away.

“Oh geez, you didn’t hurt yourself did you!” 

“N-No,” he said, going a bit blue, “I’m just going to be a bit drained for the next few days. But I will be okay. Thank you for your concern though.”

“O-Oh, alright,” You still felt weird that he had done so much and was still doing too much for you, but you couldn’t argue with him taking time off to rest. “So, what are we going to do for the rest of the day then.”

“Relax, I suppose,” he said, Grillby didn’t strike you as the kind of guy that spent a lot of time relaxing. “We could have a movie day. There are a number of monster movies, not to mention every once and in while a human movie falls down into the underground and is found in the trash heaps in Waterfall.”

“After the weekend I’ve had a movie day sounds perfect.”

You and Grillby curled up on the couch and spent the morning and afternoon watching movie after movie. He told you about the underground (though you already knew much of it from playing Undertale, not that you told him that) and in return you told him about what the surface was like today. You enjoyed the monster movies and even pointed out the similarities in the cliches in monster and human movies. When human movies that you knew came up you chattered on about them and Grillby listened intently. But as the afternoon wore on Grillby glanced at the clock more and more often. By 4:30 his leg was bouncing and he was spending more time looking at the clock then the screen as the movie ended. His flames were flickering quickly, it seemed to be what he did when he was nervous  
.  
“What’s up?” you asked, making him jump a little. You frowned.

“Sans wanted me to update him a while ago, I didn’t want to run out on you but...I didn’t think you’d feel comfortable if Sans showed up here. I told him to wait until the movie finished, but he can be...impatient, at times.”

“O-Oh, well you can go out and meet him now, I-I don’t mind.” you mumbled.

You had a feeling he was smiling at you. “I will be back shortly.” He said, getting up and heading for the door. “You know,” he said, stopping in the doorway, “If things were different, if Sans hadn’t done, whatever he did, I think the two of you would make very good friends.”

You sat silently for a moment. You really had wanted to be friends with Sans, you’d wanted to be friends with everyone, and so far you were off to a pretty rocky start. You hugged yourself, rattled and conflicted, how could you get over this feeling, this fear, you knew he wasn’t all bad, and he had taken you to Grillby. You vaguely remembered seeing him looked worried, or had you just imagined that.

You took some deep breaths and decided to sing to relax yourself, you figured at least this time you’d hear the door open.

A favourite old song came to mind.

“Darling, je vous aime beaucoup  
Je ne sais pas what to do  
You know you've completely  
Stolen my heart

Morning, noon and night time too  
Toujours, wondering what to do  
That's the way I've felt  
Right from the start

Ah, Cherie  
My love for you is très, très fort  
Wish my French were good enough  
I'd tell you so much more

But I hope that you compris  
All the things you mean to me  
Darling, je vous aime beaucoup  
I love you, yes I do

Wish my French were good enough  
I'd tell you so much more

But I hope that you compris  
All the things you mean to me  
Darling, je vous aime beaucoup  
I love you, yes I do

Darling, je vous aime beaucoup  
I love you, yes I do”

You sighed deeply, feeling relaxed.

A feeling that was immediately shattered.

“That-That language sounds...so familiar. What it is?”

You spun around quickly to see Grillby in the doorway. Had you seriously been so wrapped up in your own singing that you had missed the door opening? Maybe you should work on being more perceptive. That being said you did spend a lot of time synthesized before, so possibly you were just more used to having a heightened perception. That wasn’t really your main concern right now. Your face was starting to heat up.

“H-How long have you been standing there?” you asked.

“J-Just a moment.” He stuttered, moving inside quickly. “But...I remember those words, though, I don’t remember their meanings. Please” he pleaded, moving toward you quickly and placing his hands on your shoulders “what language is it?” He stared at you expectantly, excitedly.

You had never seen him like this, his flames were bright and flickering quickly, but this time it seemed to be out of excitement rather than nerves.

“I-It’s just French.” You muttered. “I learned a little bit in school but I do-”

“Could you speak some?” He asked excitedly. Now you knew how he must have felt earlier, you hadn’t properly spoken French in a while and the idea of doing it made you feel anxious.

“-n’t really speak it anymore.” you finished. Grillby’s shoulder’s slumped, his flames dimmed and slowed slightly.

“I-I’m sorry,” I said, stepping back. “I shouldn’t press you to do so, since I refused the same request this morning.”

“I could sing you something in French!” you blurted out. If there had been a desk in front of you, you would have slammed your head against it, even with the concussion. Why had you agreed to do that? He had just looked so sad, you wanted him to be happy again, and it wasn’t like you didn’t know some French songs, besides, you were more comfortable singing it then trying to speak it at this point.

“Y-You would do that?” He asked excitedly, his flames flickering higher then you had ever seen them go. 

Welp, no backing out now.

“I, yeah, but uh, I’ll do a better job if you aren’t staring at me.”

“O-Oh of course, you stay here and sing, I’ll start in dinner!” He hurried off to the kitchen and you could swear there was a bounce in his step. You giggled to yourself, feeling a little more relaxed at his eagerness to hear you sing.

What a dork.

“De toute façon  
Les guides c'est encombrant  
Les romans, trop longs  
J'prends la fuite  
Je ne suivrais pas le sens  
De la visite  
La lumière qui dansent  
Sur les divines proportions  
D'un apollon  
Je fais vite  
Cours aux milieu des vestiges  
J'ai le vertige

A chaque tour de rue je suis éblouie  
J'ai pris le train de nuit je n'ai pas beaucoup dormi  
Les sens en éveil  
Mes sens se réveillent  
Accélèrent et s'amplifient  
Les gens que je croise  
Toujours élégants  
Je sais que quand je parle j'ai un léger accent  
Les cyprès et l'argile  
La grâce fragile  
Des veines dans le marbre blanc

Et j'ai la tête qui tourne  
La beauté m'entoure  
Puis soudain elle m’envahit  
Florence en italie  
Et j'ai la tête qui tourne  
La beauté m'entoure  
Ne m'aidez pas si je m’évanouis  
Florence en italie

Réconfort  
Sorbet citron à la main  
Rafraichissant  
Les trésors  
Cachés dans les jardins  
Demandent du temps  
Sous l'ombre portée  
D'un palazzo je m'abrite  
Ma glace fond vite  
La splendeur  
Est exigeant et parfois  
C'est épuisant

A chaque tour de rue je suis ébouïe  
J'ai pris le train de nuit je n'ai pas beaucoup dormi  
Les sens en éveil  
Mes sens se réveillent  
Accélèrent et s'amplifient

Et j'ai la tête qui tourne  
La beauté m'entoure  
Puis soudain elle m’envahit  
Florence en italie  
Et j'ai la tête qui tourne  
La beauté m'entoure  
Ne m'aidez pas si je m’évanouis  
Florence en italie”

You heard clapping from the kitchen and giggled, despite your blush.

Grillby moved to stand in the doorway. “That was...breathtaking.” he said.

“H-Hey,” you mumbled, your blush deepening. “I thought you were done trying to fluster me.” He didn’t respond, aside from just shaking his head slightly, you thought you heard him chuckle and say something under his breath, but you couldn’t make it out.

“What is it about?” he asked, sitting on the couch and motioning for you to sit beside him.

You took a seat, “Florence, Italy. It’s a place in Europe and it’s supposed to be beautiful. I’d like to go some day. My favourite line from the song is “la beauté m'entoure.” It means the ‘beauty surrounds me.’”

He stared at you for a moment before going a bit blue, realizing neither of you had said anything. “A-And what about the other song, what does ‘Je vous aime beaucoup’ mean?”

“‘I love you very much.’” You may have been blushing, but so was Grillby. “Heh, I guess I have a thing for love songs.” Then you smelled something...strange. “Grillby, is something burning?”  
He blinked at you for a second and then jumped from the couch, practically running into the kitchen.

You couldn’t help but snicker, he really was such a dork.

After that Grillby made you a sandwich and apologized for burning your dinner. You had asked if it was salvageable but with the way his flames were flickering you had a feeling the meal had been burnt to a crisp. You chatted with him all evening and the time seemed to go too fast, already Grillby was beginning to feel like an old friend.

Eventually he made you go to bed because “you needed your rest to heal properly.” So you went and laid down. You had almost forgotten about the events of the past few days.

Almost.

You didn’t fall asleep easily, spending a long while tossing and turning thinking about Sans and Frisk and timelines. It occurred to you that you could synthesize to ask Buds, she may know something, but...would the monsters know? Would Sans know? Could he sense it from far away? Would he attack you again if he knew how strong you really were? If he knew what you could do? You just couldn’t risk it, not now, not ever, unless you absolutely had to.

You did eventually fell asleep, but it wasn’t very restful and despite not falling asleep until after midnight you awoke before 7. You grumbled as you glared at your phone screen, as if it was its fault you were awake at this hour. You sat up and stretched, feeling that you couldn’t fall back asleep no mattered how hard you tried. Then something in the far corner of the room caught your eye.

A bright something.

Grillby was slumped in a chair in the corner, sleeping soundly. You stared at him, feeling a mix of emotions. You were worried that he had slept in a chair which couldn’t have been  
comfortable, even for fire, not to mention he had probably done the same thing the night before. But...he hadn’t been in the room before you fell asleep, which probably meant he had been checking on you until you fell asleep. It was very nice of him though, and you were recovering, but it still worried you that he wasn’t getting enough rest. Still, sleeping silently like he was now, he did look quite peaceful.

And cute.

You could feel your face starting to heat up. You had just described a fire as cute, and not to make him blush. You hurried quietly out of the room and to the bathroom, pushing the thought out of your mind and feeling a bit dizzy. You would have started singing, but you didn’t want to wake Grillby, he needed his rest.

However when you left the bathroom the smell of breakfast was wafting out from the kitchen.

“Did I wake you?” you called, sitting at the table with your phone.

“No, though you should have,” Grillby replied quietly, appearing out of the kitchen. “I need to check on your concussion, you’ll need a bit more healing, otherwise it will return.” He sat down next to you.

You turned to face him as he took off his glasses a bit reluctantly. You weren’t gonna question how healing magic or any magic worked if it meant you’d get to see his eyes again. He stared into your eyes and this time you could really focus on his. They were bright white, almost too bright, almost, but not quite. They seemed to have patterns swirling through them faintly, like lava.

You didn’t even really register the feeling of warmth and calmness radiating from inside you until it began to dissipate and Grillby pulled back, quickly replacing his glasses.

“I know I’ve said this already,” you said, “but, geez, are your eyes ever gorgeous.”

He replied without looking at you, “you don’t find them...frightening?” He sounded so small, it broke your heart.

“Of course not!” you exclaimed. He was staring at you in surprise. “I don’t see how I could.”

“Oh.” was all he could manage.

You ate rather quietly, you were going to comment on the fact that he hadn’t eaten but. he seemed to be deep in thought, and you had a feeling that was another one of those questions that crossed the line into “too personal.”

Despite your protest that he could open the bar and you could just chill here he stayed with you for the day again, stepping out once to speak with Sans. So you had another day of movies and chatting while he kept an one on you to make sure you were still healed. You knew Toriel’s magic hadn’t taken this long, but then again, maybe Toriel was a more skilled healer.

You convinced Grillby to sleep in his bed that night, reassuring him that you would get him if need be, not that you could see any reason for needing him in the middle of the night, but whatever.

You fell asleep easily and awoke early in a cold sweat, sitting bolt upright in the bed. The bedside tables was shaking as was the bed and you quickly unsynthesized your souls. You lifted a hand up and ran it through your hair, it must have been the nightmare. You remembered the sounds of screams, the way it gave you a headache and you had nearly passed out. You let out a shaky breath, everything was fine, you didn’t have to do it again, not ever if you could help it. It didn’t matter how evil demons were, you didn’t think anything could possibly deserve that.

Maybe you were just being naive.

Whatever.

You showered and once again Grillby was making you breakfast by the time you were done. He had also left your own clothes, cleaned and repaired in your room sometime overnight.

You were still shaky as you sat at the table but with one look you communicated to Grillby that you didn’t want to talk about it.

After breakfast you followed Grillby over to the bar and sat on a barstool chatting with him as he got the bar ready. At 11 the bar opened and a number of monsters piled in, taking up their regular seats, a group of dogs sat together at a table and immediately got into a card game.

This was the most monsters you had seen at once (if you didn’t count the Moldsmals, which were all smaller than you) and it felt weird, knowing who they were, but them not knowing you. Some of them glanced at you but none of them seemed overly concerned. You saw Grillby nod at them all in greeting as they filed in and settled down. You turned back to him once he had taken drinks and food around the room. He stared at you pointedly

“Yes?” you asked, confused.

He gestured to the wall of drinks behind him. Was he asking what you wanted? Why didn’t he just, ask?

“U-Uh, you want to know what I want?” he nodded slowly, when you didn’t answer right away his flames flickered a little faster, was he nervous? “I-uh-I’ll have something warm, and non-alcoholic-” you weren’t sure what you wanted, or if they even had alcohol down here. But at your description he had brightened considerably and he had held up a finger to stop you, he knew what to get you. You watched him grab a mug and, apple juice? Oh, apple cider. You didn’t question how they had apples down here. He poured the cider in and threw in some spices and then placed his hands around the mug. His hands brightened and there was a tingle of electricity in the air that sent a shiver up your spine, but, it was warmer than Sans’ magic had been, friendlier. He slid the hot apple cider across the bar at you and you eagerly took a sip, it was perfect and made you feel incredibly warm.

“Grillby, this is awesome! Geez why didn’t you make me one of these two days ago?” Grillby chuckled at you, but you were pretty sure his face went just a little bit blue, you would count that as a small victory.

After finishing your drink, Grillby checked to see if you wanted anything else but you told him you wanted to walk around Snowdin and the surrounding area. He seemed hesitant to let you go but you assured him you’d be back soon.

You left the bar and walked out of Snowdin back toward where you knew the puzzles would be. You made your way across a long bridge and past a number of snow poofs. You stopped before sliding across the ice and squinted through the trees at a puzzle. You wondered if you could get closer and see it, or try it, would you get hurt? If you did Grillby might never let you leave the bar again.

“ADMIRING MY PUZZLES HUMAN?” A loud voice called behind you. You jumped and spun around finding yourself face to face with a tall skeleton and - to your dread - a small one. 

Papyrus stood with his hands on his hips looking quite pleased. Sans stood a little behind him, hiding his head under his hood.

“hey bro, i think i’m gonna head to Grillby’s for my break.” The air was filled that all too familiar electric feeling and Sans was gone.

You had stumbled back when you had felt the magic, determined to get away from it and now you were slipping on the ice. You would have fallen back and hit your head had a pair of gloved hands not caught you.

“HUMAN,” He said in surprise. “YOU SHOULD BE MORE CAREFUL! YOU ARE LUCKY THAT I, THE GREAT PAPYRUS, WAS HERE TO CATCH YOU.”

“Yeah, I guess I am.” you chuckled. He set you down in the snow and you introduced yourself.

“WELL, IT IS NICE TO MEET YOU! BUT WHY WERE YOU FALLING?” You shifted awkwardly.

“A-Ah no reason, I was just startled.” He gave you a confused look, but then smiled widely.

“AH-HA, I MUST APOLOGIZE, I KNOW THAT MY PRESENCE CAN BE DAZZLING!” 

That wasn’t the reason, but you’d sooner let him believe it then tell him the actual one.  
“That’s true,” you chuckled.

He looked at you in shock. “R-REALLY!?!? W-WOWIE!!!” You giggled again. “ARE YOU F-FLIRTING WITH ME.”

Oops, yeah, you kinda were, not that you had meant to, but geez he had picked up on that fast.  
“DOES THIS MEAN YOU W-WANT TO GO ON A, A D-DATE WITH ME?!?!” He asked.

You began to blush, that wasn’t exactly what you had had in mind. “AH-HA,” He exclaimed. “YOU’RE BLUSHING, THAT MUST MEAN YOU WANT TO DATE ME!” You were going to correct him, but he continued. “BUT, NO, UNDYNE WILL BE SO ANGRY WITH ME IF I LET TWO HUMANS LEAVE SNOWDIN. I-I HAVE TO CAPTURE YOU! I MUST! HUMAN, I WILL BE WAITING FOR YOU ON THE FAR EDGE OF SNOWDIN. BE READY!!” And with that he went running back off toward town.

You sighed and started back toward town. You figured you couldn’t let him wait out there over night.

It was going to be a long day.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The translation for Darling, je vous aime beaucoup is as follows.
> 
> "Darling, I love you very much."  
> "I don't know what to do."  
> "All day, wondering what to do."  
> "Ah, Dear."  
> "My love for you is very, very strong."  
> "But I hope that you understand."
> 
> The translation for Florence en Italie is as follows.
> 
> In any case  
> The guides are inhibiting  
> The books, too long  
> I escape  
> I didn’t follow the directions  
> Of the tour  
> The light dances  
> On the divine proportions  
> Of an Apollo  
> I go fast  
> Run through the middle of remnants  
> I have vertigo
> 
> At each turn of the street I’m amazed  
> I took the night train, I haven’t slept much  
> The senses on alert  
> My senses are waking up  
> Are accelerating and amplifying  
> The people I cross  
> Always elegant  
> I know that when I talk I have a slight accent  
> The cypress and clay  
> The fragile grace  
> Of the white marble veins
> 
> And I’m lightheaded  
> Beauty is surrounding me  
> Then suddenly it sweeps over me  
> Florence, Italy  
> And I’m lightheaded  
> Beauty is surrounding me  
> Don’t help me if I pass out  
> Florence, Italy
> 
> Comfort  
> Lemon sorbert in hand  
> Refreshing  
> The treasures  
> Hidden deep within the gardens*  
> Take time  
> Uner the nearby shadow  
> Of a palazzo I shelter myself  
> My ice melts quickly  
> The splendor  
> Is demanding and sometimes  
> It’s exhausting
> 
> At each turn of the street I’m amazed  
> I took the night train, I haven’t slept much  
> The senses on alert  
> My senses are waking up
> 
> Are accelerating and amplifying  
> And I’m lightheaded  
> Beauty is surrounding me  
> Then suddenly it sweeps over me  
> Florence, Italy  
> And I’m lightheaded  
> Beauty is surrounding me  
> Don’t help me if I pass out  
> Florence, Italy


	6. Chapter 5: Bonetrousle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Fight the Skeleton, and date him, and talk about Sans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow it's been a while and I am so so sorry. Just school bein busy and such.
> 
> I am excited to write the next chapter so hopefully it will go up this weekend.
> 
> Also a heads up, there is a panic attack in this one!!
> 
> Thank you for being so patient with me and thank you for reading!!

ou trudged back through the snow toward town, thinking about this battle. In the game you had found it difficult to time your jumps right, you often jumped right into the bones instead of over them. But, if your health got too low, Papyrus would surely just capture and put you in the garage, right?

You weren’t so sure.

So far, nothing had been the same as the game, well, maybe it was for Frisk, but you weren’t Frisk. Hell, you weren’t even supposed to be down here.

There must have been a reason for you falling into the ruins. There was a specific reason for your existence in the first place, so, you had to have been sent here, after who knows how many resets, with a purpose. 

You just, didn’t know what it was.

You sighed heavily as you walked past Grillby’s, another thought on your mind. While you seemed to be totally healed was it really wise to get yourself hurt again? Grillby would probably be pretty pissed if you showed up with more broken bones after all this. You stopped just past the establishment, there might be one way to delay the battle, if someone else brought Papyrus back into town. But the only one he’d listen too…

You shivered. After what you’d been told about Sans, after playing the game, you knew he was a good person, that he did what he did to protect everyone, and that, according to Grillby, he had  
felt pretty bad after all was said and done. You really did want to give him another chance. 

But…

Something about facing him still made you feel uneasy, unnerved. So, it was probably easier just to fight Papyrus and deal with the injuries.

You continued to the other side of town, smiling at all of the monsters you passed, they all smiled kindly back. You remembered that most of them had no idea what a human looked like, they probably thought you and Frisk were just two really weird monsters they’d never seen before. If you survived this battle maybe you’d talk to some of them. 

At the edge of town you stopped, facing the mist. You turned slightly, looking back into town. 

What if he hit you too hard, you hadn’t seen one save point. Hell, you’d almost died twice in one weekend. If he killed you, that was it, you’d be gone. So, maybe fighting him was the wrong choice. But, he didn’t want to hurt you, he just wanted to capture you. You would be no use to anyone if you died here in Snowdin. 

You took a deep breath, and continued into the fog.

Your steps slowed as you tried to see through the fog, but you weren’t able to make out anything until a tall silhouette appeared in front of you.

“HUMAN,” Papyrus said boldly to the vague shape of you in the fog. “WE HAVE ONLY JUST MET, AND YET YOU ARE ENRAPTURED BY ME! MY PRESENCE ALONE MAKES YOU SWOON! BUT, IF I DO NOT TURN YOU OVER TO UNDYNE, IF I LET YOU WALK FREELY INTO WATERFALL ALL OF MY TRAINING WILL HAVE BEEN FOR NAUGHT. I MUST CAPTURE YOU, YOU MUST BE HANDED OVER TO UNDYNE, FOR THE GOOD OF ALL MONSTERS, SO I CAN FINALLY GET WHAT I DESERVE! SO I CAN FINALLY JOIN THE ROYAL GUARD!!”

You would have giggled at his speech had you not entered so quickly into a battle. 

“Oh fuck.” you muttered under your breath as the fog cleared enough for you to see your opponent. He watched you as you decided what to do, you couldn’t remember what had to happen in the game, then again maybe this battle would be completely different, you had no idea. 

You decided to try flirting, maybe that would work.

“Papyrus, I don’t think this will be a fair fight. After all, you are so much stronger and so much more awesome then I am.” Please let this work, please let this work, please let this work.

“AH-HA, YOUR FLIRTING WILL NOT DISTRACT ME! I CANNOT LET YOU PASS.”

Okay, so not exactly as planned. Papyrus’ eye sockets glowed orange as a few bones flew at you but they were easy enough to dodge. You decided to give it another shot.

“I guess I get it, I have to prove myself. After all, not everyone is worthy of a date with The Great Papyrus!”

A slight orange colour dusted his cheeks. Maybe you had actually succeeded.

“T-THAT’S R-RIGHT! I’M A SKELETON W-WITH STANDARDS!” he stammered, casting a some more bones your way.

“I can make spaghetti.” 

“W-WOWIE!! I, I SUPPOSE…” You prayed that this would work. “N-NO! I MUST CAPTURE YOU!!” 

Well so much for that plan. After dodging a few more bones you planted your feet firmly and looked up at him. “Papyrus! I won’t fight you!”

He smiled mischievously as you remembered what made his fight a boss fight.

The blue attack.

“YOU DON’T WANT TO FIGHT ANYMORE EH? WELL, FIRST, LET’S SEE HOW YOU HANDLE MY FABLED BLUE ATTACK!!”

You braced yourself as the bones came toward you, there was no possible way to dodged them. But… they went right through you. They were the blue ones… which...didn’t hurt you unless you moved! You grinned as they passed through you, but wait.

Didn’t this attack do something you your s-

Before you finished the thought you felt your body crash to the ground. Your soul, which had been visibly glowing a dark plum on your chest was now shining royal blue. Your body felt heavy, you could no longer move with ease, it was a struggle just to stand.

No sooner had you made it too your feet that you saw the bones rocketing toward you. You were able to jump the first two but the third was too high. You attempted to jump to the left but the bone caught your leg. You screamed as you clutched at your leg, your eyes watering, the all too familiar sound of bones cracking resonating once again throughout your body. You fell the ground, trying not to land on your right leg, which was now broken for the second time in a week. That had to be some sort of record.

“H-HUMAN??” Papyrus asked. “W-WHAT WAS T-THAT SOUND?” He looked pale, if that was even possible. He rushed closer to you and kneeled in front of you.

“That, was my bones.” you said through gritted teeth. Papyrus looked like he might pass out. 

“Y-You have b-bones?” He asked, much quieter. “B-B-But-”

“Never mind that now! I need to get to Grillby’s.”

“O-OH! THAT I CAN DO!!” Papyrus said as his eye sockets began to glow again.

“N-NO!” you shouted, he looked a little taken aback. “I-I mean, I can walk, it’s not that far, I just need some support.” Papyrus looked unsure, though he obliged, but after a few steps you realized that wasn’t going to work. Before you had a chance to say anything Papyrus had swung you up into his arms to carry you the rest of the way. You would have protested but you were too busy fighting back tears. As he carried you through town and you smiled wearily at the concerned monsters passing by, they all looked so worried, if only they had seen you a few days ago.

As soon as you got inside Grillby’s Papyrus set you down carefully near a booth which you collapsed into, he hovered nearby nervously, unsure if he should get the bartender or stay and watch over you. You placed your head down in your arms for a moment and breathed deeply until light started to seep under those arms. You peered up into what you assumed was Grillby’s ‘What the fuck did you do?’ face. You glanced at the clock. 

It wasn’t even two o’clock yet.

And you had managed to break your leg for the second time in a week.

A leg which Grillby would now have to fix.

Again.

You considered, once again, slamming your head into the table, but resisted the temptation.

“So, I may have battled Paps here,” you said slowly, motioning to the skeleton standing nearby, “and I might have possibly maybe just a little bit broken a bone in one of my legs…”

“Which. Leg.” Grillby asked. It sounded calm on the surface, but you knew he was seething underneath. His flames were flickering quickly and you could tell it wasn’t from nervousness or excitement. He was just daring you to say it was the right leg.

“The...The right one…” You said in the smallest voice you could muster.

He stared at you. For a moment, he considered turning around and leaving you there. You had gotten yourself into this mess, and now you could face the consequences. But, he doubted you knew how to set your leg properly so it would heal right. And considering it was the same leg you had broken before, it was just better if he did it.

That didn’t mean he was happy about it.

And that didn’t mean you weren’t in trouble.

Oh, you were so much trouble.

Grillby picked you up before you could say anything else and carried you into the back of the bar. He gave Sans, who was sitting at the bar, a look as he passed and the small skeleton slid behind the bar. Papyrus followed the two of you quietly.

Grillby placed you on the table and stared at you for a moment before moving to your leg. You stared at the ceiling wondering if there was anything you could do that would make up for this, not listening to what they were saying or paying them much attention. That was until you felt an all too familiar electricity in the air.

You nearly jumped off the table. A pain shot through the leg that you had tried to swing off the table in your panic and you clutched at it, hyperventilating. Why was he using magic on you? Why would Grillby allow him to do that?

The glow in Papyrus’ eye went out as he stepped back. “D-Did I do something wrong?” He asked Grillby.

You weren’t listening to his answer or the ensuing conversation, you were too busy panicking. Why would Papyrus use his magic on you? He didn’t want to hurt you did he? Would Grillby let him? Your mind was racing; you squeezed your eyes shut, hoping somehow it would stop the twisting in your gut, hoping it would help you slow your breathing. You thought someone was calling your name, but you weren’t paying attention to the voice.

You didn’t notice Grillby in front of you until you felt a warm hand cover your forehead and everything went dark.

You opened your eyes and looked around, you were still in the back room of the bar. It occurred to you that you had spent far too much time in this room. There were vague flashes coming back from that first day you had spent in the room, the brief moments you had woken up. You sat up on the table to look around, at least your leg felt normal again. If you never broke another bone it would be too soon.

“HUMAN! YOU ARE AWAKE!” You jumped and turned toward a very excited Papyrus. He moved toward you quickly but you flinched away. The hurt look on his face was heartbreaking. 

“I-I’ll go tell Grillby…” he trailed off quietly, not finishing his sentence. 

“Paps wait, I’m sorry, the magic just...freaks me out.” you said, not meeting his eyes.

Papyrus looked at you curiously. “But, why?”

“It’s nothing,” you muttered. “Your brother just…” Tried to kill you? Almost fatally wounded you? “used his magic on me when we first met and… I got frightened.”

“B-But, what did he do to you? Why would you be frightened? He is incredibly lazy, but hardly scary.”

You sighed, unsure what to tell him, would Sans want him to know? Would he come after you if you told him? You shuddered at the thought. “I don’t know.” You answered quietly. “We don’t have magic on the surface, humans don’t possess that ability. I guess it just spooked me.” Okay so that wasn’t a total lie. Most humans couldn’t do magic, technically what you could do wasn’t magic either, just the concentration of the energy of your souls. It was a lie that you hadn’t seen that power though. Hell, you could pick people up with your mind, that’s what the power was for, to help you trap demons so they couldn’t get away or hurt their host.

At this point it was more just an association with magic and pain that caused you to panic.

Papyrus nodded thoughtfully. “WELL,” he replied, back to his usual boisterousness. “I CAN ASSURE YOU THAT MY BROTHER WOULD NOT HURT YOU! HE HAS NO REASON TO! AND BESIDES, HE IS TOO MUCH OF A LAZYBONES TO TRY.”

You figured now was a good time to change the subject. “So, about that date-”

“YOU STILL WANT TO GO??” He asked.

“Yeah, sure.” you giggled. “We could cook together or something.” Papyrus smiled wider then you had ever seen him smile. “We’ll do it whenever Grillby lets me leave his apartment.”

Papyrus gave you another curious look, but decided not to ask. He helped you off the table and you walked out to the bar. Grillby saw you and motioned to a bar stool. You glanced at the clock, it was half past three. You’d been back there a while.

When you turned back to the bar there was hot apple cider and a burger in front of you. You  
looked up to thank him, but he was already at the other end. You sighed and bite into the burger.

The rest of the day was spent in the bar, on the barstool. Grillby refused to let you so much as get up until you insisted the if he didn’t let you get off the barstool you would just pee right where you were sitting.

He let you move around after that. He did keep a close eye on you though and more than once you caught him watching you, most likely to see if you were walking okay. You felt fine, if maybe a little dizzy, but your leg was working properly so you’d take it. You stayed in the bar until closing time and then followed Grillby back to his apartment. He had barely said a word to you all night, but as soon as you got through the door he turned on you.

“What were you thinking?!” He said, it was quiet, but his anger still filled the room and made it feel uncomfortably hot. The flames on his head were flickering high and fast, but there were very red. “Did you have anything on you to heal you! Did you cinsider how you would contact me if Papyrus hadn’t brought you back?! You could have been hurt so much worse! With HP like yours he could have-! He might have-!” Grillby didn’t even finish his thought before he stormed off to his room.

You just stood there. You had never seen him ‘lose his cool’ for lack of a better term. He always appeared calm and collected, you guessed as a bartender he had to. That only made this whole thing even more out of character. You considered for a brief moment leaving, wondering if you should really stay. But then you figured Grillby would hunt you down and kill you for just up and leaving. You took a deep breath and headed off to bed.

For the second day in a row you awoke in a cold sweat, the screams slowly fading from your mind. You set down the shaking bed and unsynthesized your souls. You shivered, you had that nightmare often, but not normally twice in a row. You wondered if that meant something, if you should be concerned.

You decided, it didn’t. It was probably the new surrounds and near death experiences getting to you.

Pulling yourself out of bed you headed into the hall. One wiff of the air told you Grillby was up and cooking for you, but you didn’t want to face him just yet. You showered first, collecting your thoughts and emotions before heading out to the living room.

Grillby walked out of the kitchen and seemed a little startled to see you standing there. Normally he heard you in the morning. Was he that distracted?

“Before you say anything,” you started, “I want to say I’m sorry. I know what I did was dumb, I… I considered going to get Sans to bring Papyrus back into town but, I just couldn’t. I didn’t think Papyrus would hurt me, or that I’d break the same leg again. I figured I could get out of the battle without really fighting him. I should have just stayed in the bar. All I’ve done is cause you more inconvenience than I already had.” You were staring at your feet and your vision was beginning to blur over with tears as the pit in your stomach grew bigger. “I’m so sorry.”

Warm arms wrapped themselves around you, albeit tentatively and Grillby pulled you into his chest. He let you cry, unsure of why you were so upset, but feeling worse about his outburst now than he had before. You had no idea why you were so emotional. You didn’t like getting in trouble, but you didn’t normally break into tears. Still, you just felt like such a nuisance. He had done so much for you and you go and break your damn leg.

When you finally calmed down he mumbled, “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry, I’m just worried about you getting hurt. Maybe it’s because you came to me so battered in the first place but I’m concerned for your safety.” You pulled back to look at him.

“R-Really?” you sniffed.

“Of course,” he chuckled, “why do you think I was so upset with you?” He stepped back. “I understand that you aren’t a child, but still… I worry about you.”

You absorbed what he had said as he went to get you breakfast.

You couldn’t stop grinning for the rest of the day.

The next few days you spent in the bar helping out Grillby as much as you could and proving to him that your leg was in fact fine. By the weekend Papyrus had come to check on you no less than ten times and by Saturday you decided you two might as well do that date. When you had mentioned it to him that morning, he had grinned widely and ran off. It was mid afternoon before he returned to the bar to whisk you away. Grillby gave you a questioning look as you left and you merely shrugged with a slightly tired smile, you’d explain later.

You had barely any time to register your surroundings when you entered his house before he sat you at a table and placed a plate of spaghetti in front of you. He was looking at you expectantly so you picked up your fork and took a bite. It was…

… Actually pretty good.

“This is good.” you said smiling as you scarfed down the rest. Papyrus beamed at you. He chattered at you as you finished eating and then pulled you into the middle of the living room and layed out a puzzle on the floor.

You really should have seen that coming.

The two of you sat for two hours putting together the large puzzle and chatting away. You told him stories about humans and in return he told you all about monsters and the Underground.

As the two of you sat back to admire your handiwork you asked something that had been nagging at the back of your mind. “Hey Paps? Can this be a platonic date? I-I don’t really want a romantic relationship, but you’re a really good friend.”

He was silent, and at first you thought you’d hurt his feelings until he said in his smallest voice,  
“You really want to be my friend?”

“Paps!” you said turning to him. “You broke my leg and made me spaghetti. I’m pretty sure that makes us friends.” 

He smiled shakily at you. “I just thought… after what happened, you wouldn’t want to…”

 

“Of course I do! Hell, I still want to be friends with your brother and he-” you stopped. You hadn’t told Papyrus about that. You hadn’t told anyone yet. But now Paps was staring at you, confused.

You wondered if there was a desk nearby that you could slam your forehead into.

“He what?” He asked. You looked anywhere but Papyrus. “Human,” he said softly. “You can tell me, we are friends.”

You finally met his eye. “I suppose. He, uh, got pretty freaked out when he first saw me and… Well let’s just say I got banged up pretty bad.”

Papyrus just stared at you.

“B-But, I know why he did it. A-And I know he feels bad, s-so…”

“He, He hurt you?”

You just nodded. “That’s… why I’m a-afraid of the magic, it… reminds me of pain…”

Papyrus didn’t say anything for a long time, but when he did it wasn’t what you expected. “What did you do?”

You gave him a confused glance. “Huh?”

“What did you do?” Papyrus repeated with more intensity. “I KNOW MY BROTHER. IF H-HE TRIED T-TO, IF HE WANTED TO HURT YOU THERE HAS TO BE A REASON. SO WHAT DID YOU DO?” He was back to his regular volume, but it seemed more in anger than anything.

“Isn’t it obvious?” you answered quietly. “I’m human. We destroyed all hope for the monsters more than once. And Sans has been hurt, probably more than you know. He didn’t want it to happen again. He… He thought that I would hurt… That I would- Well, what better reason do you need than protecting your loved ones?”

His moment of anger now passed, Papyrus thought about your words. “But, not all humans are bad, Frisk is nice, and you’ve been only kind to me.”

You smiled at him. “I think… that Sans has been through a lot, I think he was just protecting you all.”

“But, why would we need protection from someone like you?”

 

Because you could single handedly destroy them all? Because you could make them all suffer for eternity if you really wanted? Because you weren’t innocent like Frisk? “Because,” you said, “He didn’t know me, because I could have been a threat, a merciless killer.”  
“Because, I could have destroyed your happy ending.”

He knew that Paps would be confused by that, but he also knew you were saying it more for yourself then Papyrus. He sat quietly in his room, thinking. You had said so yourself, you could have destroyed everything, but, you didn’t. And… you understood why he had done what he had done, even if it was awful and horrible and had nearly killed you.

After everything, you showed forgiveness, kindness, and understanding, everything he had lacked.

Maybe it was time for Sans to properly apologize.


	7. Chapter 6: Quiet Water

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You enter Waterfall and finally have a proper conversation with Sans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I updated again!
> 
> Sans is finally saying sorry! There is also some echo flower listening and ancient glyph reading. And a whole lot of thinking.
> 
> Also, reader found the piano, so you'll need this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcUCYtyaLrY
> 
> I promise you'll be meeting Frisk very soon, along with a fish lady and a sad little ghost.

Papyrus seemed confused by your words, he sat quietly, thinking. After a few moments he turned on the TV and told you that the robot on the screen was Mettaton. You expected him to say more about it, but he seemed lost in thought. For the first time since you’d met him Papyrus was quiet, thinking, barely saying a word. After the program ended you checked the time and told him you should head back to Grillby’s.

“H-HUH?” He looked up at the TV and realized the program had ended. “O-OH, ALRIGHT. WELL HUMAN, I HOPE YOU HAD A GOOD TIME.”

“I did.” You smiled. “And, uh, you’re not going to try and fight me if I head to Waterfall are you? I did promise someone that I’d find Frisk and take care of them.”

“A-AH, WELL I DON’T THINK ANOTHER BATTLE WOULD BE WISE. AND IT, MIGHT UPSET GRILLBY.” That was true.

You said your goodbyes and headed out the door back toward Grillby’s. You paused for a moment, considering going into the bar, but you decided to just head back to the apartment instead. You were tired, and needed to think.

As you slumped down on the couch your hands came up to rub your face. It had been a week, a week since you had fallen into the ruins right? Only a week. It had felt like a lifetime already. You considered talking to Buds, letting her know you were alright but, you didn’t want Grillby to walk in on that, to find out, not yet anyway. You had been forced to show Toriel, but you wouldn’t show anyone else if you could help it. Sighing, you pulled out you phone and scrolled through your contacts. You didn’t have any bars underground so calling or texting anyone on the surface would be no use. But when you got down to ‘T’ you stopped and stared. It seemed Toriel had added her number into your contacts at some point. You hit the phone symbol beside her name and waited.

It rang.

No one picked up.

You sighed, truthfully you’d had a feeling that this would happen but still, it had been worth a shot. 

After everything that had happened it would feel nice to have someone to talk to though. You had almost unloaded everything onto Papyrus, and while he had a big heart, you weren’t sure he would know how to react.

The falling and near death experiences were one thing.

The anxiety and depression were another.

It wasn’t like you planned on telling people about those things, but sometimes everything spilled out all at once. You weren’t even sure monsters could get depression. They probably had similar feelings but if they were made of magic they probably didn’t have physical brains, or hormones, or chemicals in their bodies. So it wasn’t likely that they experienced depression or anxiety in the same way that humans did. How would Papyrus have reacted to news like that? Could you even explain it to him?

You sighed, running your hands through your hair. And then there was Grillby. You knew he was itching to know what had happened with Sans, why you were afraid of him, and you’d have to explain the whole date with Papyrus thing.

Your stomach did a funny little flip at that thought.

You began organizing your thoughts, but didn’t get very far before you Grillby came through the door. You glanced at the clock, was it that late already?

“I was wondering where you had gone. Papyrus dragged you away quite quickly.”

“I, ah, promised him a date during our battle…”

“Oh,” Grillby mumbled.

“I mean, we just ate spaghetti, did a puzzle and watched TV. I-It’s not like w-we’re, I mean we’re not…” you said, maybe a little too quickly.

Grillby stared at you for a moment and then chuckled, you felt your face warming up.

“Well I’m glad you had a good afternoon.” he smiled.

You replied with a weak grin. Grillby’s expression changed to one of concern.

“Are you alright?” he asked, sitting down next to you.

“I’m, ah, going to head to Waterfall tomorrow.” You said, sure that wasn’t what was really bothering you, or what you really wanted to tell him, but he should know this too.

“Why?”

You looked up at him. “Do you know the human child who came through here not too long ago? The one named Frisk.” He nodded. “Well I, I promised someone I would find someone and look after them.”

Grillby sat quietly, thinking. “Well, alright, if that’s what you want?”

“I’ll come back around though. But, at some point I have to find that kid. A-And then, try to get home.”

“Of course,” he said quietly. “I figured you would continue on through the Underground at some point.” You finally noticed the flames on Grillby’s head, they were flickering low and quickly.

“I will be safe,” you said. “I don’t know if you have anything that can replenish my health, but if you do I’ll gladly take it.”

Grillby brightened at this, sitting up a little straighter. “I’ll make you some food tomorrow before you leave then. Was that all that was bothering you?” You nodded. It wasn’t, and as Grillby went off to bed you considered telling him about Sans, but decided you were too tired for that conversation.

Once again you awoke, this time in the early hours of Sunday morning, with the nightmare fresh in your mind, and the bed shaking violently. But, it had been different this time. This time there were screams you didn’t recognize. Sure, there were the familiar ones, but there were also a number of ones you weren’t used to hearing. New voices, though you could tell they were feeling a similar pain. And, something burning… 

You laid back down but wouldn’t let yourself fall back asleep. You didn’t think you could handle that nightmare twice in one night. You desperately wanted to talk to Grillby, but you didn’t feel right waking him. After all, it was just a nightmare.

After an hour though, you decided to do something so you could get some rest.

Grillby awoke rather early the next morning. He sat up in bed, looked over toward the doorway and jumped nearly a foot in the air. After a moment though he calmed down, it was only you. He wondered what could make you drag a chair into his room. And why you weren’t in your room. He was careful not to wake you as he placed a blanket on you and went to check on your room. Everything seemed fine, though the bed looked to have been moved a bit, how odd.  
Grillby sighed, worrying about you, and went to make you some food.

You awoke at 8:30, it wasn’t a lot of sleep, but it was enough. You sat up and a blanket slipped off of you. Grillby must have put that there when he woke up.

You went to shower, then grabbed your bag and headed out to the living room where there was a plate of food and a number of tupperwares already full of food.

That was way too much to fit into you bag.

Grillby may have overdone it.

You chatted through breakfast and dragged out your goodbyes, as a result it was almost two hours later that you left, your bag packed to the brim with food and Grillby’s number in your phone. You were going to protest all the help he was giving you. You could take care of yourself, even if you didn’t have the best track record with that down here, but you knew it would make him feel better if you just went along with it, so you did. 

You set off through Snowdin and made your way through the fog and into what looked a lot like a cave. There was a stream on your left, carrying large blocks of ice, far off to the right you could see waterfalls. Up ahead looked like another sentry station, but it was empty, Sans was nowhere to be seen. You walked over to a fish monster, it smiled at before heading off farther into Waterfall. You walked over to the blue flower it had been beside, and poked it.

“Never trust a flower… That’s one of the constants of this world.”

Well, that was true.

You kept going, trudging past a box and through the water and then through a section of tall grass that came up to your nose. Beyond that there seemed to be a break in the path where four flowers on things that looked like lily pads that were bobbing in the water. You read the sign on the wall.

“When four bridge seeds align in the water, they will sprout.”

Well it seemed that the seeds Frisk had put down were still there. You stepped onto the first and it was surprisingly stable. You walked over the rest of them and walked into a large room. You were about to turn left and go farther into the room when something to your right caught your eye. 

It seemed that while there was a path forward there were some bridge seeds going off to another part of the cavern. You figured there was no harm in checking it out. Past the seeds you stepped onto a bridge and came out in a small space with a bench and another blue flower. You poked it.

“I just wasn’t ready for the responsibility.”

You sat on the bench to think and rest your feet unsure of what the flower meant. The responsibility? What responsibility? You were also wracking your brain for any memory of this room. You had only played the game twice if you remembered correctly, and you had never found this room. Though, you figured you would have if you had played Undertale more.

Something else was bothering you though.

Did the air feel strange?

“I hoped I’d find you here.” You jumped nearly out of your skin and fell off the bench onto the ground. The small skeleton stepped back and stifled a laugh. You got back up and sat back on the bench again, and folded your hands in your lap.

“Do you need something?” you asked stiffly, trying to keep your breathing calm, reminding yourself that he wasn’t here to hurt you.

Probably.

“Uh, can I sit down?” he asked. You shrugged. He sat on the bench, careful to give you space. “I, uh, I really owe you an apology.” he mumbled, sounding much smaller than you’d ever heard him. “I, heard what you were saying to my bro yesterday, and, I know I shouldn’t have been eavesdropping but… but despite what I did to you, you defended me. I almost… I was going to…” he took a deep breath.

“You said that I’d been through a lot. I don’t know how much you know about that, but you aren’t wrong. When I saw you coming I just… I couldn’t let it-”

You placed a hand on his shoulder, he stopped and looked up at you.

“Take a deep breath. Collect your thoughts.” he did as you said and took a moment before continuing.

“Do you remember what I said to you when I- when we first met?”

“Some of it.” you replied.

“Do you remember how I said you didn’t belong in this timeline?”

You just nodded. You knew that in the game some characters were aware of the fact that they had met you before, you also knew that Sans was more aware than the others.

“Well, this may sound crazy, but this isn’t the first time Frisk has fallen into the Underground.”

You thought for a moment before you said. “I’ve heard weirder.” He looked at you curiously, but continued.

“Well, there weren’t always this nice. The first time they fell, I saw them kill, not all the time, but still a disturbing amount. When I judged them, part of them seemed to care, part of them didn’t. Only a short time later I felt a major jolt and realized we’d jumped backward in time, but no one else seemed to notice it.”

“The second time that Frisk fell they, they came out of the Ruins covered in dust. They didn’t even seem human. Knowing them now, there’s just something so different about that kid. It’s like they’re a completely different person. They killed everyone until, until they met Undyne, but they couldn’t get past her. Out of frustration, they reset.”

Sans smiled, “I think she’d proud if she knew that. Again, they killed everyone, again Undyne stopped them, but this time I was watching from Alphys’ cameras, she’s the royal scientist, and I saw, the kid got close, but gave up again.” His expression darkened.

“The third time they killed her. I knew I couldn’t let them get past me, it was clear that kid, no that thing, would kill everything, they weren’t going to stop until they had destroyed the world. At that point, it was bigger than me, it was bigger then my brother being-, I had to do something. They would just come back each time they died, but they were tired and eventually they reset. Three more times they killed everyone, three more times they got to me, three more times they gave up trying to get past me.”

“After that they reset five more times, each time killing less and less of us until this timeline. This time they’ve killed no one. I don’t know that I really trust them, but they seem so different now.”

“All-in-all, they’ve reset twelve times, always back to the same day, the same time.” He looked over at you, a pained expression on his face, his voice weak. “So you can understand my surprise when you showed up. It’s not an excuse of course, just an explantation. After seeing the people I love slaughtered over and over, when things were finally looking up, I wasn’t about to let you ruin everything. What if you were just like them, or what if whatever was making them do that was now in you, I couldn’t bare the thought.”

“I couldn’t lose them all again.” His voice broke and you looked over to see blue tears falling from his eye sockets. He sniffed. “But I didn’t even give you a chance, and when I took the time to read your soul, I realized you hadn’t killed anyone, you have no EXP, no LV, I mean geez, your HP is only 15 when maxed out, I mean I can’t talk, mine is 1 but still. I could have kept my distance and only attacked if you had attacked me, or if you were covered in dust. Instead I attacked you on sight and almost killed an innocent person.”

You shifted uncomfortably, you weren’t exactly innocent.

He continued with his skull in his hands. “Since you’ve been here, you’ve been nothing but kind, to Grillby, to Papyrus, even to me. You defended me, without even knowing the whole story. I am so so sorry. I know that nothing could ever really make up for what I did, I understand that, but I still need you to know that this has been eating away at me for the last week. I shouldn’t have done it. I’m so sorry.” He got up off the bench and you struggled to find your voice.

“Sans, I, I get it, and I forgive you. I mean, to protect the ones I love, I would have done the same thing. I-”

To your surprise he laughed, “Good one. You’re too nice.”

You stared at him for a moment, “If you honestly think that,” you said darkly, “then you don’t know me at all. You don’t know what I’ve done, or what I’m capable of, when it comes to my friends” As much as you didn’t want to explain to him what you could do, you weren’t an innocent child. You didn’t want him believing you were all good. You weren’t. Even if you had only been protecting your friends. Even if there was no other way.

Sans just stared at. “Heh, I guess I don’t, but,” he held out a piece of paper, you took it. “I’d like to, I mentioned that I heard what you said yesterday so, if you still want to be friends…” 

You looked down at the paper, it had his phone number on it. “Thanks, I’ll-” you looked up, 

Sans was gone. You pulled yourself up and began to think about it all. Twelve timelines, and from the sounds of it Frisk had only just started their first pacifist run. Sans had seen his brother die at least six times, maybe more. You knew a genocide route was possible, but to do it six times. And then to stop, to just be kind to everyone. It didn’t make sense. It was like they were two different people.

You walked through an archway and read the sign on the wall. “The Wishing Room” You passed flower after flower that whispered wishes to you, most of them wanting to see the surface. It made you feel guilty, humans could really be awful.

Sure it wasn’t your fault specifically but you still felt bad as you passed the flowers. The ancient looking glyphs on the wall made you feel even worse.

“The war between humans and monsters”

“Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human soul.”

“But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their soul. Its power allows it to persist outside of the human body, even after death.”

“If a monster defeats a human, they can take its soul. A monster with a human soul… A horrible beast with unfathomable power.”

The next was a picture of what you assumed a monster with a human soul would look like. It made you slightly unsettled. You were so lost in thought that you almost fell off of the little raft that you had stepped on, you caught yourself and looked down.

It was more unsettling that you couldn’t see the water.

As you got off the raft, you walked along a boardwalk and thought about the war. It saddened you that you weren’t surprised that it had been the humans to attack. As a species we were pretty hostile, there was always fighting, always suffering it seemed. Still, why would we need to attack the monsters if we were so much stronger?

You walked through more tall grass and what looked like a piece of cheese encased in a crystal, the blue flower nearby squeaked at you as you passed. There was a telescope farther in and an archway, but you were more preoccupied by the glowing up ahead. As it turned out, the water in this part of the marsh was glowing. You followed the path in awe until you happened across another flower.

“So? Don’t you have any wishes to make?”

You walked over to the next flower.

“ … hmm, just one, but … It’s kind of stupid.”

You stood for a moment, thinking. You remembered that this conversation continued in the game, but you couldn’t remember how it ended.

Wasn’t it sort of sad?

You followed the path until you found the next one.

“Don’t say that! Come on, I promise I won’t laugh.”

You continued up the path, eager to find the next flower, but instead found another glyph.

“The power to take their souls. This is what the humans feared.”

So, that was why they attacked, to prevent the monsters from taking their souls. Except that if they knew anything about monsters they would have known that most monsters don’t want the powers of a god. The had called that hybrid a ‘horrible beast.’

Sometimes you were ashamed of your own species.

Up along the path a little creature who looked like a turtle with a bucket for a body hopped into your path. Before you could say anything he chimed “wosh u” and started a battle. You dodged around the water droplets that were coming at you far you fast for you liking and offered your hands for him to clean. He did so happily and then sat down, looking exhausted, content with that being the end of the battle. You kneeled down beside him.

“Hey little buddy,” you said noticing the dirt all over his bucket. “You look a bit dirty yourself, do you need some help getting clean?” The little creature nodded, and waddled off ahead, you followed him until you came across what looked like a small underground lake. You reached over to pick up the creature but he recoiled.

“Huh? Oh, well you just cleaned my hands, but would it make you happy to clean them again?” He nodded and proceeded to clean your hands four times before he was satisfied. You then lifted him into the water. It seemed he could clean himself, but getting into the water was a challenge for him. When he was all done you lifted him out and he bobbed up and down happily beside you. You asked if he had a name and he informed you that it was “Woshua.” As you walked along the lake he followed along beside you. and when you got past it he ran up ahead excitedly. 

You followed him around the corner to…

A piano!

“Oh man!” you exclaimed, excitedly. Woshua seemed pleased with himself.

You sat down and played a few scales to warm up, and then started a song.

"In every heart there is a room  
A sanctuary safe and strong  
To heal the wounds from lovers past  
Until a new one comes along

I spoke to you in cautious tones  
You answered me with no pretense  
And still I feel I said too much  
My silence is my self defense

And every time I've held a rose  
It seems I only felt the thorns  
And so it goes, and so it goes  
And so will you soon I suppose

But if my silence made you leave  
Then that would be my worst mistake  
So I will share this room with you  
And you can have this heart to break

And this is why my eyes are closed  
It's just as well for all I've seen  
And so it goes, and so it goes  
And you're the only one who knows

So I would choose to be with you  
That's if the choice were mine to make  
But you can make decisions too  
And you can have this heart to break

And so it goes, and so it goes  
And you're the only one who knows"

The little monster seemed happy with the song. Even after you’d played a few more for him, he still hummed the first one as you got up. He followed you as you read more glyphs.

“This power has no counter. Indeed, a human cannot take a monster’s soul. When a monster dies its soul disappears. And an incredible power would be needed to take the soul of a living monster.”

“There is only one exception. The soul of a special species of monster called a “Boss Monster.” A Boss Monster’s soul is strong enough to persist after death… If even for a few moments. A human could absorb this soul. But that has never happened. And now it never will.”

You stood and stared at the glyph feeling saddened. Yawning, you continued, Woshua still humming.

You walked past a statue holding an umbrella and further on you found the umbrellas. Taking one for you and Woshua you kept moving, but you were tired. You walked through puddles uncaring until you came across a small space where you were sheltered from the strange underground rain. You glanced at your phone, it was already pretty late, and you were tired. You sighed, it wasn’t the ideal place to sleep, but at the moment it seemed like the best option. You curled up on the ground with your head on your bag and Woshua relaxed beside you, within seconds you had fallen asleep.

You awoke rather early the next morning, Woshua still sleeping beside you and began digging through your bag. Now that you were well rested you were starving.

 

You munched on a croissant while Woshua woke up. You offered him the last piece and he took it curiously before chewing on it carefully.

The two of you headed out, the umbrella sheltering you from the rain. You soon came out into a large area with a view of the King’s castle, you stopped for a minute to stare at the breath-taking view. Eventually Woshua nudged you and you kept going until you hit a ledge. It was too high for you re climb. You returned your umbrella to a large garbage can, sighing.

Wait.

Large garbage can?

That would work.

Woshua jumped as you poured the umbrellas out and turned the garbage can over near the wall. You began to climb up it and he tried you follow but couldn’t. You looked down at him kindly. 

“Do you want me to lift you?” you asked. But he shook his head and turned away, humming. 

“Gotta go home huh?” He nodded, sadly. “Well, I gotta go ahead, so I’ll see you around okay?” 

He gave you a happy hum before hopping off down the trail. 

You climbed up and went on.

Oh great, more glyphs.

“The humans, afraid of our power, declared war on us. They attacked suddenly, and without mercy.”

“In the end, it could hardly be called a war. United, the humans were too powerful, and us monsters, too weak. Not a single soul was taken, and countless monsters were turned to dust…” 

Your stomach dropped as you began to cross the maze of a bridge in front of you. You couldn’t stop thinking about how many had died, for a power that they may never use. You spent the entire walk consumed by your feelings of despair until you came across what seemed to be the end of the bridge.

You were staring over the edge when a yellow something caught your eye. You turned quickly, but your leg, ensnared in something, tripped you and you began to fall.

You screamed out until something caught you around the throat. You were vaguely aware that you were still falling, clawing at the thing around your neck until you lost consciousness


	8. Chapter 7: Spear of Justice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You meet Frisk, a friendly ghost, and a fish lady who wants to kill you.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this one has some sad moments in it and a sort of mention of reader's depression.
> 
> Also brace yourselves for the end of this chapter because oh boy!
> 
> I'm sorry in advance   
> (don't you dare go peak at the ending of the chapter first, seriously, it'll ruin the surprise!)

Your head was aching and a bit fuzzy and your neck was in pain, but otherwise, you felt fine. You sat up slowly and looked around, struggling to remember why you’d fallen. Had something tripped you? What was there to trip on on the bridge? You looked underneath you, yellow flowers.

Why was that shade of yellow so familiar?

You couldn’t quite place it.

You dug in your bag until you found some apple cider, Grillby had told you to drink some if you were injured. You took a sip and immediately felt warmed. Clarity returned to your brain and your head and neck stopped aching. You stood up and stretched looking upwards and stopped.

You couldn’t seem the bridge at all.

You gulped.

How in the hell had you survived that fall?

You looked around but there was no sign as to how you were alive and relatively unharmed. Nothing but the golden flowers, but there was no way flowers had stopped you from dying. You headed off past the piles of trash and waterfalls and turned a corner, when you heard something. 

“Foolish. Foolish! FOOLISH!” You ran past a few trash piles, hiding behind the one that was closest to the sound. A piece of cotton went whizzing past your head. You peaked around the pile to see a small human child, maybe seven or eight in a blue sweater with purple stripes and an old pink tutu with short brown hair. In front of them was what looked like an angry training dummy yelling at small dummy-like creatures. “Hey guys! Dummies. Dummies! DUMMIES! Remember how I said NOT to shoot at me? Well… FAILURES! YOU’RE FIRED! YOU’RE ALL BEING REPLACED!!!” The smaller dummies began to fly off, looking disgruntled while the angry dummy directed it’s speech at the child. “Hahaha. Hahaha! HAHAHA! Now you’ll be my true power: Relying on people that aren’t garbage!” 

You heard a mechanical whirring and looked around just in time to duck out of the way of the little metal dummies flying past. You watched as a number of them attacked the child while the angry dummy continued ranting. Twice, the child dodged around the missiles and managed to get some of them to hit the dummy, but on the third attack one missile caught their arm. They winced but kept going. Even after getting hit a few more times on the next attack they were still standing.

Man, that kid was tough.

“Who cares. Who cares! WHO CARES!!” Your attention was caught by the dummy, who was ranting again. “I DON’T NEED FRIENDS!!! I’VE GOT KNIVES!!!” The child dodged the knife and you ducked to the side to avoid it as it flew by. “I’m… Out of knives. BUT IT DOESN’T MATTER!!! YOU CAN’T HURT ME AND I CAN’T HURT YOU! YOU’LL BE STUCK FIGHTING ME… Forever. Forever! FOREVER!!!!” the dummy started laughing maniacally. You watched, frightened for the kid until the dummy was hit with something else. “Wh… What the heck is this!? Acid rain!?! Oh, FORGET IT! I’m outta here.” the dummy grumbled before flying off. Before you had a chance to step out a little ghost appeared in front of the child.

“... sorry, i interrupted you, didn’t i?” They said in a dreary voice. “as soon as i came over, your friend immediately left… oh no… you guys looked like you were having fun… oh no… i just wanted to say hi… oh no………………….”

“well… i’m going to head home now… oh… um… feel free to “come with” if you want… but no pressure… i understand if you’re busy… it’s fine… no worries… just thought i’d offer…”

The little ghost disappeared and the child began to walk after them.

“Wait!” you called out. They spun around to see who was calling them smiling wearily. But when they saw you their eyes widened, the smile fading from their face. They looked confused, surprised, and maybe a little frightened. “I-I know what you’re probably thinking, who am I and how am I here? Sans explained the timelines to me, the resets. Trust me, I think it’s weird too but, somehow, I fell down anyway so, I might as well help you right.”

They just blinked at you, still unsure if you were real.

“I fell into the ruins too, I, I promised Toriel I would find you, and keep you safe…”

Their face broke into a nervous smile. " _Do_ _you know sign language? "_  They signed.

You grinned, " _Yeah,"_ you signed back, " _I’m better at understanding it then actually doing it."_

Their smile widened. _"That’s okay, I can hear you fine, I just prefer to sign. You’re welcome to just talk normally to me! My name is Frisk by the way, what’s yours?"_

You had figured this was Frisk, they seemed so nice. You couldn’t imagine them killing every monster in the underground. You told them your name and they spelled it back to you to make sure they had gotten it correctly 

_ "I’m going to go visit Napstablook, do you wanna come?" _

“Sure,” you responded. You stepped up out of the water and followed Frisk into a wider room.

“hey… my house is up here… in case you wanna see… or in case… you don’t…” Napstablook said solemnly. You weren’t sure if they noticed Frisk nodding their head encouragingly as they floated away. Frisk moved forward, concentrating on something you couldn’t see. They seemed to stop and think for a moment before reaching for your hand, they looked up at you expectantly. 

You took their hand and they turned back to the spot on the ground that they were crouched down to see. A sudden warmth ran through you, feeling a lot like the healing magic.

“What the hell was that?!” you asked when Frisk let go of your hand. They giggled at you. It occurred to you that you should probably watch your language around the kid.

They turned to you, _"For lack of a better term, a save point."_ Oh, that would explain the healing magic. _"Did it heal you too?"_

“Yeah,” you replied. 

_"Perfect."_ they responded, grinning.

The two of you headed up the path Napstablook had taken until you reached two little houses. Frisk walked toward the one of the left and held the door open for you.

“Why thank you, little one.”

They giggled, _"You’re welcome, big one."_ Well, okay, you kind of set yourself up for that one.

“oh… you really came… and you brought a friend…” Napstablook mumbled shyly.

You introduced yourself to the ghost, “It’s nice to meet you.”

He nodded, “you too…” He turned to Frisk. “you don’t have to stay if you’d rather hang out with your friend…”

Frisk shook their head and began to sign, _"You’re my friend too!"_

The little ghost looked teary-eyed.

Could ghosts cry? Napstablook seemed about to start. They smiled at Frisk. “really...?”

Frisk nodded vigorously. _"Of course."_

Napstablook smiled. “well, it’s not much, but make yourself at home.” Frisk headed into the small house and you followed. They picked out a CD that Napstablook had set out and insisted that he play it. “oh… alright…” 

You perked up, listening intently. When the music ended you smiled at the little ghost. “That was really cool.” You said, you could see Frisk giving them an encouraging thumbs up.

“oh… really? I… mixed it myself…”

“Really? Dude, you’ve got talent!” The little ghost’s eyes watered and they seemed to grow more opaque.

“thank you…”

Frisk was grinning as they checked a watch on their wrist that had been hidden by their sweater. 

They pointed at the little old TV.

“oh…” said Napstablook. “that’s my TV… there’s a show i like to watch on it… sometimes…”

Frisk pointed again, more insistently. The little ghost made their way over to the TV and turned it on. “oh… how did you know it was on…?” they asked curiously.

_"I dunno, I just had a feeling."_ Frisk replied as they say down in front on the TV and beckoned for the two of you to join them.

“Oh!” you said, “Mettaton right? Papyrus showed him to me, he’s so entertaining!” Napstablook just gave you a sad smile.

You and Frisk spent the afternoon and early evening watching program after program and chatting with Napstablook, telling them about your adventures and the surface. They told you some stories about their family and the snail farm. Despite their insistence they they weren’t funny you and Frisk were laughing pretty hard at how they told some of the stories.

Eventually Frisk checked their bag and frowned, then pointed at the fridge in the corner sadly.

“oh… are you hungry… i can get you something to eat…” Napstablook floated over to the fridge and turned around with two translucent sandwiches. “these are ghost sandwiches… do you want to try them…?” Frisk nodded vigorously.

“Sure,” you replied. “Why not.” The two of you bite in at the same time. Your teeth phased through it, but strangely, you started to feel full anyway. “oh…” mumbled the ghost, assuming that you hadn’t been able to eat it. “nevermind…” They moved back into the middle of the room. 

“after a great meal i like to lie on the ground and feel like garbage… it’s a family tradition… do you want… to join me…?” You and Frisk nodded. “okay… follow my lead…” Napstablook lied down and the two of you followed suit. “here we go… you’ll lie down as long as you don’t move. so… only move around when you want to get up, i guess.”

You looked up at the ceiling, thinking about everything you’d been through since you fell. You needed someone to talk to down here, but you barely knew Sans, and Papyrus might have a hard time understanding what you were going through.

And then there was the mysterious man of fire. You really didn’t know that much about him, except that he could do healing magic, that he had been around since before the barrier, and that he worried too much. You wanted to tell him everything, to call him and relay every word that Sans had said to you, every sentence from the glyphs you’d passed. You wanted to tell him about your souls and how your emotions seemed to be slowly taking a nosedive. But the thought made you incredibly guilty. He already worried about you enough, and he had already done so much. 

How could you ask that of him?

Despite your worried mind your eyes drifted closed as the floor seemed to fall away beneath you. And you drifted off to sleep.

You opened your eyes abruptly to see a sleepy Frisk shaking you awake.

“Oh geez,” you muttered, sitting up. “I didn’t mean to fall asleep. How long was I out?”

_ "All night, it’s morning." _

You jumped up from the floor. “What?! Why didn’t you wake me?”

They shrugged. _"Napsta didn’t mind us staying over, and we needed our rest."_ You looked around the room.

“Where are they, anyway?”

_"Outside, feeding the snails. We should go and say thank you before we leave._ "  You agreed as you dug through your bag, you were pretty sure there were some more croissants in there. You found two and gave one to Frisk, they ate it quietly.

After your meal you got up and followed them out of the house and to a snail farm.

“oh… are you two leaving?” they asked. 

Frisk nodded. “Thanks for letting us stay over.” you said.

“oh… it was no problem… it was nice to have company for once…”

You smiled at them and waved a goodbye as Frisk pulled you down the path. It wasn’t long before they stopped in front an archway and pulled you inside.

The shopkeeper was an older turtle monster that looked as if he was about to go on a safari. “Woah there!” said the shopkeeper. “I’ve got some neat junk for sale.” Frisk pointed to the man, “Me? Well I’ve been around a long time. Maybe too long. Studying history sure is easy when you’ve lived through so much of it yourself!” He chuckled.

Frisk tugged on your sleeve and you looked down. _"U-n-d-y-n-e,"_ they spelled.

You turned back to the shopkeeper. “They’d like to know about Undyne.” you told him.

“Undyne? Yeah, she’s a local hero around here. Through grit and determination alone she fought her way to the top of the Royal Guard. Actually, she just came through here asking about someone who looked just like you…” the shopkeeper said, giving Frisk a hard stare. Frisk grabbed your hand. “She didn’t mention anything about you though,” he said quietly, shifting his gaze to you. “Either way, I’d watch you backs, and buy some items… It might just save your hide!”

Frisk pointed to some tea and pushed some gold coins on the counter to pay for it. Then they turned and pulled you out of the shop.

“Be careful out there, kids.”

They pulled you down the path,  but you stopped them to read the glyphs. Even though they depressed you, you wanted to know the story.

“Hurt, beaten, and fearful for our lives, we surrendered to the humans. Seven of their greatest magicians sealed us underground with a magic spell. Anything can enter through the seal, but only beings with a powerful soul can leave.”

“We used to have magicians?” you asked.

Frisk sighed. _"Sans once told me monsters taught humans how to use their powerful souls to do magic…"_

You were thoughtful as you moved on to the next glyph.

“There is only one way to reverse this spell. If a huge power, equivalent to seven human souls, attacks the barrier… It will be destroyed.”

You stared at the glyph for some time, finally you looked at Frisk. They looked upset and were hugging themselves, looking away from the ancient writings.

“Hey,” you muttered, kneeling next to them. “What’s wrong?”

They shrugged. _"I don’t like the glyphs, no matter how many times I read them I always feel awful about what happened."_

You sighed. “Well, what’s done is done, we can’t change it. But we can try to free them all, we can try to break the barrier.” Frisk looked up at you.

_"You really think we can do that?"_  

“It’s worth a shot.”

Frisk seemed happier at that thought. They wandered ahead as you finished your reading.

“But this cursed place has no entrances or exits. There is no way a human could come here. We will remain trapped down here forever.”

You walked up to meet Frisk and they guided you along the glowing path, past mushrooms and lanterns and into a darker part of the cavern. They seemed determined but you were worried, what was going in. Before you could ask though they pushed you hard and you fell into some tall grass. You heard a whisper over near Frisk.

“Behind you.”

You peeked out of the grass and saw Frisk spin around to face an armor clad figure holding a glowing blue spear.

If memory served, that was Undyne.

“Seven.” She said menacingly, “Seven human souls. With the power of seven human souls, our king… King Asgore Dreemurr… will become a god. With that power, Asgore can finally shatter the barrier. He will finally take the surface back from humanity… And give them back the suffering and pain that we have endured.”

“Understand, human? This is your only chance at redemption. Give up your soul… Or I’ll tear it from your body.”

Undyne advanced on Frisk, who looked determined, if a little scared, but stood their ground. 

The grass next to you rustled and a little yellow monster with no arms and a striped shirt jumped out between the two of them.

“Undyne!!! I’ll help you fight!!!” He looked back and forth between Frisk and Undyne a few times before turning to Frisk. “YO!!!! You did it!!! Undyne is RIGHT in front of you!!! You’ve got front row seats to her fight!!!” He looked back and forth again. “ … wait. Who’s she fighting???”

Undyne grabbed his ear and began to drag him away. “H-Hey! You aren’t gonna tell my parents about this are you?”

Frisk watched them leave and let out a sigh. They beckoned to you and you crawled out of the grass. “So that’s Undyne huh? Man, she’s scary.”

Frisk shrugged. _"Nah, she’s just passionate. She wants to keep everyone safe, and she knows that with my soul their goal would be complete. When she says I’m standing in the way of everyone’s hopes and dreams she’s right."_

“Oh,” was all you could say.

Frisk headed off up a glowing path and you followed them. As the two of you passed more echo flowers you heard more of the conversation from the other day.

“ … hmm… if I say my wish… You promise you won’t laugh at me?”

“Of course I won’t laugh!”

“Someday, I’d like like to climb this mountain we’re all buried under. Standing under the sky, looking at the world all around… That’s my wish.”

You heard laughter. “ … hey, you said you wouldn’t laugh at it.”

“Sorry, it’s just funny…  That’s my wish too.”

“They really wanna get out of here huh?” you muttered. Frisk nodded. Up ahead you read the next glyph.

“However… There is a prophecy. The Angel… The One Who Has Seen The Surface… They will return. And the underground will go empty.”

You wanted to think on that but Frisk was already ahead at a bridge, you ran after them. They walked carefully along the bridge, you did the same as you caught up to them.

They stopped suddenly and spun around toward you, but they looked past you.

“Yo.”

You turned around and saw the same little yellow monster from earlier. Frisk moved between the two of you.

“Frisk, who is she?” He asked. Frisk glanced back at you and then signed something at him. “Is, is she human too?” Frisk nodded. “Aww man,” he said. “Undyne told me “stay away from that human.” Does she know…?” Frisk shook their head. 

The little monster sighed. “So, I guess this means that both of you are my enemies.” Frisk seemed to slump their shoulders, they signed something else. “And she’s super nice too? Awe man. Yo, say something mean so I can hate you please?” Frisk shook their head again. “Yo what? So I have to do it? Here does nothing. Yo, I…  I hate your guts!” A moment of silence passed.

“Man, I… I’m such a turd. I… I’m gonna go home now.” The monster turned to leave but slipped down a muddy path. He stood on the slippery ground, unable to get back to the bridge. 

“Yo, w-w-wait! Help! I tripped!” Undyne came into view at the other end of the bridge, but Frisk ran forward anyway. They grabbed the little monster but couldn’t quite lift them up. You hurried forward and together the two of you lifted them up. The little monster scurried between the two of you and Undyne, then turned toward her.

“Y… y… yo… dude… If… If y-you wanna hurt my friends… You’re gonna have to get through me, first.” Undyne backed off slowly, and disappeared around the corner. “Hey, thanks for that, you two really saved my skin! I guess being enemies was just a nice thought. We’ll just all have to be friends instead.” The little monster turned to you. “Yo, I’m Monster Kid. Frisk says you’re super cool and really nice, so I’ll be friends with you too!”

You grinned, “I’d like that.”

He smiled back. “Well, I should REALLY go home… I bet my parents are worried sick about me! Later, dudes!” He turned and ran off into Waterfall.

Frisk looked up at you with a worried expression. _"Undyne saw you, I was hoping that wouldn’t_ _ happen." _

“Why?”

_ "Now she’s going to want to fight you." _

“So, I was already planning on fighting with you.” Frisk shook their head. “What do you mean, there’s no way I’m letting you go up against her alone!”

_"If I die, I can just reload a save. You can’t. I’m not letting you get killed for me."_  

“I won’t die! And I’m not letting you fight by yourself!” you knelt down. “Frisk, you aren’t alone in this anymore, trust me, I can handle myself. If it gets really dire, I have a few tricks up my sleeve.” They eyed you suspiciously, but relented and agreed to let you help so long as you wore the old bandana they handed you. You didn’t know why you needed to but you weren’t about to argue.

They began to walk onward until the two of you came across a mountain, they looked up, you followed their gaze.

“Seven.” She began. “Seven human souls, and King Asgore  will become a god. Six. That's how many we have collected thus far. Understand? All we need is one more; and now we have two!” 

“First, however, as is customary for those who make it this far... I shall tell you the tragic tale of our people. It all started, long ago…”

“... No, you know what? SCREW IT! WHY SHOULD I TELL THAT STORY WHEN YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!?! NGAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! YOU! You're both standing in the way of everybody's hopes and dreams! Alphys's history books made me think humans were cool… with their giant robots and flowery swordswomen. BUT YOU? You’re both just cowards! Hiding behind that kid so you could run away from me!” She turned to address Frisk.

“And let's not forget your wimpy goody-two-shoes-shtick! Oooh! I'm making such a difference by hugging random strangers! You know what would be more valuable to everyone? IF YOU WERE DEAD!!!”

She looked right at you, a chill went down your spine. “That's right, humans! Your continued existence is a crime! Your lives are all that stand between us and our freedom! Right now, I can feel everyone's hearts pounding together! Everyone's been waiting their whole lives for this moment! But we're not nervous at all. When everyone puts their hearts together, they can't lose! Now, humans! Let's end this, right here, right now. I'll show you how determined monsters can be! Step forward when you're ready! Fuhuhuhu!”

Frisk grabbed your hand and ran to a spot on the ground, another save point. You felt the warmth only briefly before they turned, took a deep breath, and ran towards the mountain, you following close behind.

“That’s it then! No more running away! HERE I COME!!!!”

You stood side-by-side with Frisk as both of your souls were turned green. A magical shield appeared on your arm.

“En guarde!” Undyne cried, readying her spears. Frisk took a deep breath.

“We don’t want to fight you Undyne!” 

You glanced at them, surprised, but they were focused on Undyne the motioned for you to do the same.

“As long as you're green you can’t escape! Unless you learn to face danger head-on... You won't last a SECOND against ME!” 

You didn’t have time to think about what that meant before there were spears flying at you, but the shield stopped them so long as you had is aimed in the right direction.

Once again. “Undyne! We don’t want to fight!” But she wasn’t listening.

“Not bad. Then how about this!” Undyne attacked again.

The two of you contiuned to block as Undyne monologued between her attacks. “For years, we've dreamed of a happy ending… And now, sunlight is just within our reach! I won't let you snatch it away from us! NGAHHH! Enough warming up!”

Each time she attacked it was faster than the last, and with each one you took more damage until she returned you soul to it’s normal plum and Frisk grabbed your hand. They dragged you into the mountain and too a bridge before Undyne caught up.

“You won’t get away from me this time!” she snarled, turning your souls green again. The shield reappeared. You gritted your teeth, you wanted to eat something but as you and Frisk stood back to back you knew you wouldn’t have the time to reach your bag. 

“Honestly, I’m doing you a favour!” You dodged all the attacks. “No human has ever made it past Asgore!” One spear caught you in the leg and you fell to your knees. Your HP flickered in front of you, 2. It was no use, one more hit and you would die. You wondered if you could reach your bag to get something to eat or if you should just synthesize your souls. Someone shoved you and you tumbled over.

You looked up to see Frisk standing where you had been a moment ago with wide eyes, a glowing blue spear lodged in their chest. They fell to their knees as their HP hit 0.

As they collapsed on the ground their red soul floated up above their body. Undyne rushed toward it.

Before she reached it, it shattered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I guess you should have listened to Frisk...


	9. Chapter 8: It’s Raining Somewhere Else

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This time the battle goes much more smoothly.
> 
> So why does Frisk seem so upset?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So it's been a while, I'm sorry school and the fact that I had to transcribe SO MUCH of this chapter from Undertale play-through's took me some time. 
> 
> Also there is more singing in this one!  
> You'll need this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlppyBJhLnc

Your gaze shifted from where Frisk’s soul had just been to Undyne.

You locked eyes.

She smiled menacingly at you and took a step toward you.

You felt your hand being jerked forward and you stumbled to your feet, your vision going black for a split second. When your vision returned you blinked, warmth fading from body. Frisk turned to face you, looking tired and a little disgruntled. They pulled their hand out of yours.

_“This time keep your guard up, I don’t want to have to do that again.”_

You stood for a moment processing as Frisk walked toward Undyne. “Wait, Frisk WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT!” Frisk turned.

_“I just reloaded my save. I’d rather not die again though, so please pay attention this time.”_

“Wait, wait, wait!” you muttered more to yourself than Frisk as you pulled them back from the mountain. “You’re just gonna go back in there? Right after you died? Don’t you want to, I dunno, like, take a break or something?”

Frisk sighed, looking much older than eight. _“This is the sixth time I’ve fought this exact fight. I know I can do this. You wanted to help? So help, otherwise I’ll do this by myself and we’ll figure out something else with Undyne.”_

“But you said yourself that once she’s seen me she’ll try to fight me!”

“Then focus!” Frisk demanded angrily.

They took a deep breath. _“Otherwise we’ll be right back here very soon.”_

You just nodded and followed as Frisk walked back toward the mountain.

“That’s it then! No more running away! HERE I COME!!!!”

Once again you stood side-by-side with Frisk as the magical shield appeared on your arm. They nudged you and when you glanced at them they turned their back to you. You moved to be back-to-back with them.

“En guarde!” Undyne cried, readying her spears.

“Undyne! We won’t fight you!” you yelled, Frisk shifted behind you, but you couldn’t see their expression.

Undyne of course, didn’t listen to you at all. “As long as you're green you can’t escape! Unless you learn to face danger head-on... You won't last a SECOND against ME!” As the spears flew toward you, it occurred to you that this was a hint on how to fight this battle.

This time you kept your focus. Back-to-back you two were able to block every spear that came at you. Undyne monologued again between her attacks. “For years, we've dreamed of a happy ending… and now, sunlight is just within our reach! I won't let you snatch it away from us! NGAHHH! Enough warming up!”

As soon as your souls were back to their original colours the shields disappeared. Frisk grabbed your hand you ran for it. You made it to the bridge before Undyne trapped you again.

“You won’t get away from me this time!” she snarled, fixing you with a menacing sneer. You and Frisk got back-to-back again and readied yourselves for the attacks. “Honestly, I’m doing you a favour… no human has ever made it past Asgore! Killing you now is an act of mercy! So STOP being so damn resilient!” You both ducked the blue arrow that came at your heads and broke into a run around the corner and past the “WELCOME TO HOTLAND!” sign before she caught up again. “You’ve escaped from me for the LAST time!”

Once again, back-to-back, shields up. “Alphys told me humans were determined. I see now what she meant by that! But I’m determined, too! Determined to end this RIGHT NOW! … RIGHT NOW! … RIGHT … NOW!” Her spears were going faster and one caught your leg. You stumbled, but continued blocking as best you could. Undyne laughed tiredly between attacks. She was getting fed up with you two. “NGAHHH!!! DIE ALREADY, YOU LITTLE BRATS!” She cried, returning your souls to normal. You and Frisk took off toward Hotland as Frisk’s phone rang. They picked it up while still running.

Even though you weren’t holding the phone you could still hear Papyrus’ loud voice. “HEY! WHAT’S UP?! I WAS JUST THINKING… YOU, ME, AND UNDYNE SHOULD ALL HANG OUT SOMETIME! I THINK YOU WOULD MAKE GREAT PALS! LET’S MEET UP AT HER HOUSE LATER!”

If you weren't running for your life you would have laughed. Frisk hung up the phone as the two of you ran past Sans sleeping at a sentry station. You glanced at Frisk as the two of you ran across a bridge, careful not fall into the lava below. They seemed excited. As they reached the far end of the bridge they stepped off and turned, you followed suit.

Undyne was slowly making her way across the bridge, huffing and wheezing. “Armor… so… hot… but I can’t… give up…” was all she was able to get out before collapsing to the ground. Frisk ran for the water cooler (why was there a water cooler here of all places?), grabbed a cup, filled it, and brought it back. They walked up to Undyne and simply poured it on her head. You were about to ask them what the fuck-wait, what they were doing. You were watching your language around them, right? Wait, hadn’t you dropped an f-bomb before the battle?

Well fuck, there goes that.

Undyne, meanwhile, had begun to twitch a bit and was now struggling to stand up. You rushed forward to give her a hand.

“I don’t need your help!” she hissed, looking both defiant and defeated. “I-I’m fine… just… go.” You stood there, wondering if you should help her anyway. “I SAID GO!!” She yelled. Frisk grabbed your arm and pulled you toward a large building with the word “Lab” on it. Presumably Alphys’ lab. Frisk stopped for a minute at what you figured out was yet another save point as you felt the familiar rush of warmth and the pain in your leg disappeared.

Frisk dragged you through the sweltering heat to the door of the lab and pushed it open. It was dark inside, much too dark to really see anything. Frisk made there way to a large screen with a picture of them on it. As Frisk moved to step away the image moved too. Not a picture, a video feed, as you moved in front of it your face showed up on the screen.

“Weird,” you muttered under your breath. You followed Frisk past what seemed to be a desk? It was too dark to see. Suddenly, you walked into Frisk’s outstretched arm.

Something up ahead of you moved and the lights turned on. A little yellow dinosaur monster in a lab coat and glasses, just a little taller than Frisk was staring at you with a worried, anxious expression.

“Oh. My god. I didn't expect you to show up so soon! I haven't showered, I'm barely dressed, it's all messy, and…” she trailed off, bouncing nervously on her toes.

“Ummm… h-h-hiya. I'm Dr. Alphys. I'm Asgore’s Royal scientist. B-b-but, ahhh, I'm not one of the ‘bad guys’!” She turned to face Frisk. “Actually, since you stepped out of the ruins I've been… observing your journey through my console. Your fights…” her eyes flickered toward you. Then she must have seen Sans…

You wondered if she’d seen his apology too. “Your friendships… everything. I was originally going to stop you but… watching someone on a screen really makes you root for them. S-so, ahhh, now I want to help you!” As Alphys continued talking to Frisk it occurred to you that Frisk didn't know what Alphys had done. Sure, they knew about how she lied about helping them and Mettaton, but not about the true lab, not if this was the first time they’d gone through the underground without killing anyone. Thinking of Mettaton weren't you going to meet him soon? You knew he was a big part of the story after this but you couldn’t remember how… Either way you’d become a pretty big fan of his since Paps had shown you his show. It was your new guilty pleasure.

You tuned back in at the mention of his name. “Originally, I built him to be an entertainment robot. Uh, you know, like a robotic TV star or something. Anyway, recently I decided to make him more useful. You know, just some small practical adjustments. Like, um… anti… anti-human combat features?” Alphys was getting quieter by the second, glancing away from the two of you. “Of c-course, when I saw you both coming, I immediately decided… I have to remove those features! Unfortunately, I may have made a teensy mistake while doing so. And, um…”

“Now he’s an unstoppable killing machine with a thirst for human blood?” She laughed nervously.

You dragged your hand across your face, “So, what do we do if we meet him then?”

“U-Uh, w-well, let’s just hope that-” There was a banging on the wall. The three of you turned to look. “Did you hear something?” she mumbled worriedly, as the banging increased. “Oh no.”

There was a bright flash of light before the room went dark and a metallic metal voice chimed “Ohhh yes! Welcome, beauties…” a spotlight turned on, illuminating a very square robot, “to today’s quiz show!!!” As the lights came up a bit and confetti fell from the ceiling you couldn’t help but smile. You’d been looking forward to meeting Mettaton ever since you’d first seen him on TV, even if you’d never admit that to anyone. “Oh boy! I can already tell it’s gonna be a great show! Everyone give a big hand for our wonderful contestants!” More confetti fell around you as a buzzer rose out of the floor in front of you. You looked over at Frisk with a grin that quickly disappeared. The usually happy child wasn’t smiling, and in fact looked tired and sad. You may not have known them for long, but before, when something was getting them down, they brushed it off, or found the bright side. And yet, it seemed as if their heart just wasn’t in it. “Never played before, beauties? No problem. It’s simple! There’s only one rule. Answer correctly…”

Mettaton paused, his screen becoming red. “Or you die!!!” That was how Mettaton was part of this part.

He constantly tried to kill you.

Fucking perfect.

Your soul pulled forward out of your chest, showing it’s dark plum colour. “Let’s start with an easy one!!! What’s the prize for answering correctly?” You looked down and saw four buttons labelled ‘A,’ ‘B,’ ‘C,’ and ‘D.’ Frisk was waving at you as the choices appeared in front of you. They signed ‘D,’ and then counted down, 3, 2, 1. You both hit the button at the same time. “Right, sounds like you get it!” The robot cheerily moved on, “Here’s your terrific prize! What’s the king’s full name?” You placed your hand over the button and watched Frisk’s countdown, you figured answering at the same time was smart, you had no idea what would happen if you didn’t. It took you three more questions to realize that Alphys was giving Frisk the answers.

You couldn’t help but giggle when he asked if you would smooch a ghost. Though Alphys was clearly judging the robot, Frisk was smiling a bit, so that was something. It all went smoothly until Mettaton asked “In the dating simulation video game “Mew Mew Kissy Cutie” what is Mew Mew’s favourite food?”

Alphys began to ramble, “Oh! Oh! I know this one! It’s snail ice cream!!!” She continued on about the game while Mettaton gave her a smug and exasperated look, if that was even possible. Her voice died out as she realized what she had done.

“Alphys, Alphys, Alphys.” He scolded. “You aren’t helping out contestant are you? Ooooooh!!! You should have told me. I’ll ask a question… you’ll be sure to know the answer to! Who does Dr. Alphys have a crush on?” Alphys had her head in her hands and her face and gone very red. You glanced at Frisk. ‘A’ they signed. You glanced at the screen to see Undyne’s name was next to A and you wondered idly if she was watching what you assumed was a televised event Frisk counted down; you both hit the button at the same time.

“See, Alphys? I told you it was obvious. Even the human figured it out. Yes, she scrawls her name in the margins of her notes. She names programming variables after her. She even writes stories of them together… sharing a domestic life. Probability of crush: 101 percent. Margin of error. One percent.” You glanced at Alphys, the poor girl still had her face in her hands and was shaking rather badly. “Well, well, well,” Mettaton continued. “With Dr. Alphys helping you… the show has no dramatic tension! We can’t go on like this! But… but this was just the pilot episode!! Next up, more drama!!! More romance!!! More bloodshed!!! Until next time, darlings!!!” He cried as the wheel underneath him disappeared and was replaced by what looked like the end of a rocket. He broke through the ceiling and flew off into Hotland, the lighting returned to normal and the buzzers in front of you disappeared back into the floor.

You turned to Alphys who was slowly removing her hands from her face. “Well that was certainly something.” she mumbled. As you and Frisk approached her she continued to mumble, not meeting your eyes. “Th-That last question… he wasn’t s-supposed to ask that one…” You gave her an encouraging smile as Frisk sighed her a quick _“It’s okay”_ before pulling you toward the door at the far end of the lab. Before you got there though, Alphys called out to you.

“Wait, wait! Let me give you my ph-phone number! Th-Then… m-maybe… if you need help, I could, um…” she trailed off as you handed her your phone, which she entered her number into. Frisk handed over a cell phone that looked as if it pre-dated flip phones. “Wh-Where’d you get phone!? It’s ancient! It doesn’t even have texting. Y-you need something better, come to think of it,” she said, turning to you, “I-I could add a few upgrades to yours as well.”

You grinned and nodded, “Sure.” Alphys scurred off with your phones and Frisk settled themselves on the floor. You took a spot beside them. “Well, that was certainly eventful.”

_“Yeah,”_ they signed back.

“What was your favourite part?”

They shrugged. _“I already know all the answers, it’s the same every time. It’s not that exciting anymore.”_ They looked so, out of it.

You sat in thought for a second, “Wha-” but you didn’t get your question out before Alphys hurried back in the room.

“Here,” she said, handing you back your phone and presenting Frisk with an entirely new one. “It can do texting, items, it’s got a keychain… I even signed you up for the underground’s No. 1 social network! Now we’re all officially friends!” She laughed nervously as she looked back and forth between the two of you. You tried to give her an encouraging smile but she ran off yelling “I have to go to the bathroom!” before seeing it. Frisk made for the door again and you ran to keep up. They made it out into the stifling heat before you caught them by the arm.

“Woah, hang on there little one,” you said gently. “What’s going on?” They stayed silent, facing away from you. “Look, I know I just met you, but I can tell that something’s bothering you. Up until now you’ve brushed everything off but ever since we got into Hotland…” You trailed off. Frisk was shaking. They slowly turned to face you, tears streaming from their eyes. You rushed forward and wrapped your arms around them, they hugged you back tightly. You muttered reassurances to them, but they didn’t improve. You could tell that their breathing was getting faster, they were on the verge of a panic attack.

You slid to the ground, pulling them into your lap and did the only thing you could think of that might calm them down.

Sing.

 

“Close your eyes, lay your head down 

Now it's time to sleep

May you find great adventure

As you lie and dream

If you're scared of the darkness

I will calm your fear

There's a light in the hallway

So you know I'm here

 

So count your blessings every day

It makes the monsters go away

And everything will be okay

You are not alone

You are right at home

Goodnight, goodnight

 

You won't need me forever

But I'll still be here

For we all have our nightmares

Even me, my dear

From now on, if you need me

You can sing this song

There's a light in the hallway

Burning all night long

 

So count your blessings every day

It makes the monsters go away

And everything will be okay

You are not alone

You are right at home

Goodnight, goodnight”

 

Frisk’s breathing slowed, they pulled away from you so they could sign. _“It doesn’t matter how many times you die, it always messes with you. When I do, it normally throws me off but, this is the first time anyone’s noticed…”_

“Wow,” you mumbled. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t even think of how much that would have affected you. Are you going to be alright?” They nodded and stood up shakily. “I think it’d be nice to head back to Snowdin for a while, what about you?” You suggested. They nodded and took your hand as you both headed back into the lab.

They poked your arm and you glanced over. _“Hey, big one?”_

“Yeah?”

“Thanks.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now you know  
> I'm PTX trash.
> 
> Also I'm sorry so many of you wanted revenge and that didn't happen. I do have reasons for not having angry revenge fighting at this time.
> 
> It may still happen...
> 
> If I feel like it...  
> *evil laughter*
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> Seriously though, thanks for reading and getting so into the story. I appreciate it a lot.


	10. Chapter 9: Respite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You and Frisk head back to Snowdin for some quality time time with the skelebros and the flame man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is another chapter where the main thing that was supposed to happen didn't because I wrote other stuff. I blame most of that on the fact that I did most of the writing for this chapter on mobile and I can't get a good idea of how much I've written on mobile so I end up with more then I mean to have.
> 
> Anyway this one has a song so here ya go, sing along if you know the words. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DROmuU9mhzM

Frisk held your hand as you made your way back through the lab. They stopped briefly to save, and then pulled you, gently in a different direction, not toward Waterfall, but to the river. A boat was floating in the river with a hooded figure standing at the bow. “Tra la la. I am the riverman. Or am I the riverwoman…? It doesn't really matter. I love to ride in my boat. Would you care to join me?” They chimed in a  mysterious, sing-song voice. Frisk tugged at your arm, you looked down at them and they nodded toward the figure, holding onto your arm tightly.

“Yeah actually, could we get a ride to Snowdin?” You asked. The figure appeared to nod and you and Frisk stepped on. 

“Then we’re off…” they sang. Most of the ride was quiet. Frisk kept a tight hold on your hand and leaned into you. After about five minutes the riverperson spoke again, this time in a much more serious tone. “Tra la la. Monsters, humans… Flowers.” Your body went cold and you felt Frisk squeeze your hand. Flowers? As in Flowey? What did the riverperson know about Flowey? You’d only seen them once since being down here. Or, twice? Why did you feel like you'd seen that flower twice? There was just something about it that was unsettling. And if this figure was putting them into categories, then it wasn't a monster like you thought, but something else entirely.

Your racing thoughts consumed the rest of your surprisingly short trip, though you did notice the rapid temperature change. Frisk tugged at your arm to get you to step off and you followed them on the shore. “Come again some time.” The riverperson sang, back to their usual tone. Frisk waved a cheery goodbye as they led you into Snowdin.

At the end of the path you made to turn right, Frisk began to pull you left. You stopped and turned, confused.

_ “Where are you going?”  _ They asked.

“Grillby’s,” you said, feeling your face warm a bit. It occurred to you now that Frisk would probably want to go see Sans and Papyrus.

_ “Can we go see the skeletons first?”  _ They asked innocently, though the smile on their face was rather mischievous. 

“Sure,” you shrugged, wondering what that look had meant. Frisk made there way to the house and went right inside. Sans, who was sitting on the couch looked up and grinned widely at Frisk, though his expression faltered slightly when his eyes landed on you. Frisk did an excited sign which you assumed ment “Sans” and ran towards him, wrapping their arms as far as they could around him. He returned the hug happily. Without them by your side you realized this was the first time Frisk had let go of your hand since you’d left the lab. 

“Hey kiddo,” Sans said, “how was Waterfall?” Frisk began to sign excitedly at Sans, though their back was towards you so you couldn't see what they were saying. You shuffled awkwardly over to the couch listening to Sans’ side of the conversation. “Really?... Well they are a nice kid… they did!?... Awe, well I bet they really appreciated that…”

“Oh…” Sans threw you a menacing glance before focusing back on Frisk. “Well, I-I… I… alright, if you say so kiddo.” 

“Oh, heh yeah. Hey Paps, the humans are here!” You turned to look upstairs where there were a series of crashing sounds coming from. Papyrus came racing out of his room and almost fell down the stairs. “HUMANS! MY DEAR FRIENDS, YOU'RE BACK!!!” Frisk ran toward Papyrus giggling and he hugged them, lifting them off the ground and spinning them around. Once he had put them down he turned towards you with his arms out-stretched and waited patiently. You tentatively got up and walked towards him. He engulfed you in a hug and spun you around as easily as he had Frisk and you couldn't help but giggle.

Papyrus looked over your shoulder at Frisk as he put you down. “A SNOW PAPYRUS IS A WONDERFUL IDEA, HUMAN!” He clapped happily. Frisk grabbed a coat by the door and went running outside, Papyrus followed them excitedly.

He slammed the door behind him.

A moment passed, Sans coughed, though you suspected he didn't need to, and you returned to the couch slowly. “So,” he began steadily, “Frisk told me what happened in Waterfall.” You sat very still and waited. “They told me about what happened with Undyne, about how your inexperience effectively got them killed.”

Did the air feel strange?

“But,” he continued, his voice becoming more relaxed. “They also told me about how nicely you treated them and Napstablook. About how encouraging you were to Alphys, about how you learned from your mistakes from the first fight.” You glanced at him to see him giving you a calculated stare. “And… about how you noticed they weren't okay, and how you calmed them down. I mean, when you came in they were holding onto you pretty tightly.” he paused, waiting.

“They’ve been holding my hand since we left the Lab, they didn't let go until they saw you…”

Sans grinned, and you realized it was the first time he had given you any sort of genuine smile. “Frisk is a good judge of character for the most part. They can be a bit naïve, especially when they want to help someone; but, it's almost as if they can see souls. They always seem to have such a strong sense of who a person is just from having met them. In only a couple days they’ve clung to you. They wouldn't do that unless they really trusted you. And, if Frisk thinks you're a good person, then I have to agree. I guess what I'm saying is, I trust you too.”

You sat for a moment, processing. “Wow, th-thank you.” He shrugged.

“I didn't forget what you said, about what you would do, or have done to protect people. I don't know what you’ve done, and I suspect there's something you're not telling me.” You swallowed hard, “But Frisk thinks we’d be good friends if we tried. They seem to know that there's, tension between us, even if they don't know what happened.” 

You sighed, relaxing a bit. “It's funny, Grillby told me the same thing, that we would make good friends.” 

“Well, it isn't too late to try.” He grinned, turning towards you. “So let's try this again. Hi, I'm Sans, Sans the skeleton.” He held his hand.

You reached to shake it. “Hi Sans, my name-” a loud farting sound emitted from your hand and you jumped a bit in alarm. Sans was laughing rather hard. “Did you just?” You pulled your hand away and looked down at his palm, there was a small whoopee cushion in his hand.

“The old whoopee cushion in the hand trick,” he howled, wiping away tears, “it's always funny.” Though you tried to roll your eyes you couldn't help but laugh. Sans began to tell dumb joke after dumb joke, layering in bad puns along the way and soon the two of you were on the floor, barely able to breathe. 

You weren't sure how long the two of you sat on the floor laughing, but eventually you calmed down enough to speak. “I think they were right.”

“About what?” He chuckled.

“We do make good friends.”

He looked away from you. “Yeah, and to think, I almost…”

“You didn't though, so that's something, and like I said,  I'd do, I have done things like that to protect my loved ones.”

He glanced at you, “What would you even do? I mean, as far as I know humans don't have powers.”

You couldn't meet his eyes, “That’s… a long story.” You muttered.

“Fair enough,” he replied. “Or at least, I'll except that for now. So, how about how you fell down here in the first place?”

That you could answer. “My friends and I were camping on Mt. Ebott. We live a few towns over, I'd heard the legend of course, but not-”

“Wait, legend? What legend?”

“Oh, you've never heard it?” He shook his head. “There's a legend, well more just a story that kids tell to scare each other. They say the woods on the mountain are haunted by the ghosts of the fallen. There's stories, that people who climb Mt. Ebott never come back. Some kids have gone missing, but their bodies were never found. There are some people who say they died up there, and that their ghosts still haunt the mountain.”

He was quiet for a long time, “So, why would you climb it? If you knew people didn't come back?” He seemed upset.

“Most people don't believe that stuff. We just think the kids were abducted and never found. It's sad, but more realistic than them just disappearing.”

“Okay,” he said slowly, processing. “So then, you still fell.”

“Yeah,” you sighed. “I went hiking to the top by myself one evening. I didn't look where I was walking and I tripped on, something, I don't remember seeing it there a moment before but, whatever it was tripped me. I tried to catch myself but I fell through the moss. It was… strange.”

He seemed to be thinking to himself. “Yeah, strange.” He muttered. “Say, did you see anything yellow when you fell?” His speech got quieter, more hurried.

“I don't think so,” you mumbled thoughtfully. “I did when I fell off the bridge though, why do you ask?”

“Well I think it has to do-” but his thought was interrupted by Frisk and Papyrus barging through the door.

“SANS!” Papyrus exclaimed. “WE HAVE MADE THE MOST WONDERFUL SNOW PAPYRUS AND SNOW FRISK! THE HUMAN HAS INFORMED ME THAT THEY ARE HUNGRY AND WOULD LIKE TO GO TO GRILLBY’S! EVEN THOUGH I OFFERED THEM A WONDERFUL MEAL, THEY WOULD RATHER EAT AT THAT GREASE TRAP.” He sighed. Frask was grinning at you, smugly. 

What was that look for?

“Sure thing kiddo.” Sans replied, pulling himself up off the floor and heading towards the door. “You coming Paps?”

“I THINK NOT, I WOULDN'T EAT THERE UNLESS I HAD TOO!” He scoffed.

“Suit yourself,” Sans shrugged, turning to you. “What about you? It's my treat.”

“Sure thing,” you said, picking yourself up off the floor and heading toward the door. Frisk ran to you and grabbed your hand. Once the three of you got outside they reached for Sans with their free hand. Walking in between you two, one hand in your hand, the other in Sans’ they hummed happily. 

“Hey,” you said, glancing down at them, “is that the lullaby I sang you earlier?” You asked. They nodded their head excitedly and let go of your hand, running for the door of the restaurant and pushing it open.

Sans stepped in ahead of you and the crowd called out his name. You followed him in as Grillby looked up.

He nearly dropped the glass in his hands.

His flames were flickering rapidly and his face had grown brighter. He hurried out from behind the bar and across the room. When he reached you he wrapped one arm around you, the other hand holding the back of your head. “You're okay, I'm so glad you're okay.” You heard him mumble.

“Of course I am silly,” you replied quietly, pulling away so you could look at him. “It's only been a few days.”

“I know, I just…” he trailed off. His glasses had slipped down slightly and you saw the tops of his eyes for a moment before feeling the warmth rush through you. He shifted his gaze to your neck and brushed his fingers along it. “You were chocked by something?” 

How did he even know that? There was no bruising was there? The cider had healed everything. You reached up and took a hold of his hand. “We’ll talk about it later. People are already staring at us.”

Grillby went rather blue as he glanced around the room at a number of monsters watching the two of you out of the corner of their eyes and grinning into their drinks. He hurried off behind the bar as you giggled. The three of you headed to the bar and sat down. Frisk tapped you on the arm. You turned towards them.

_ “You're so red right now.”  _ They signed, grinning widely. You felt your face grow hotter. “Well i-it's just that-”

“Gee kid,” Sans butted in, “you're really  burning up,” he laughed.

“Come on guys, it's not like-”

_ “I don't blame you, Grillby is pretty  _ _ hot _ _.”  _ Frisk signed.

“ Too hot to handle  if you ask me.” Sans added.

You put you head down on the bar and threw your arms over your head. “I hate both of you,” you groaned as they cackled with laughter.

“Ah, we’re just teasing you kiddo.” Sans chuckled.

“Well,” you muttered, looking up at him through your arms. “You better hope Grillby didn't hear any of that or I'll snap both of your necks.” You looked around and sighed with relief when you spotted Grillby at the far end of the bar. So he hadn't heard any of that. Good. It wasn't like you liked him like that anyway. Was it? You watched him mixing someone's drink. Sure he was cute, and made you feel relaxed, and he cared about you a lot, sometimes too much but you did the same thing when he tired himself out. In fact, looking at him now he looked like he hadn't slept well the last few nights. You frowned, that was worrying, he shouldn't be working if he's tired. Was last week the last time he’d taken a day off?

As you fretted over him it occurred to you that yeah, maybe you liked him a bit.

Frisk nudged you, you glanced at them.  _ “You’re staring.” _

Your face heated up again as you looked away,Frisk and Sans burst into another fit of laughter.

“I swear if I ever find out that one of you has a crush on anyone I won't let you hear end of it.” You muttered bitterly. 

“Well as much fun as it is making fun of you,” Sans said with a wink, you glared at him. “We should probably order something.”

_ “Fries!”  _ Frisk signed excitedly.

“Same,” you added.

“Grillby!” Sans called out across the bar. He came hurrying over. “Three orders of fries?” Grillby nodded and rushed into the kitchen. As you waited Sans grabbed a bottle of ketchup off of the counter and began to drink out of it. You gave him a bewildered look before glancing at Frisk. They shrugged.

_ “He’s just weird like that.”  _

“Okay,” you muttered slowly. Grillby quickly returned with three plates of fries and a mug. He placed it in front of you and began to heat it with his hands as you realized it was more apple cider. You smiled at him as he pushed it across the counter at you. You took a sip and grinned into the mug as Grillby was beckoned away. A familiar warmth rushed through you, you supposed he had put healing magic in this cider as well, just to make sure you were okay.

You heard a cough beside you and turned. Frisk and Sans were both grinning at you.

“Not a word.” You warned.  Frisk innocently pulled their fingers across their lips as if zipping a zipper.

“Ditto,” said Sans, motioning to Frisk, he grabbed another bottle of ketchup and offered it to you.

You took it but Frisk caught your arm inconspicuously before you poured and shook their head slightly. You gave them a questioning look. As tiny as they could they signed,  _ “check the cap.” _

You did. It was so loose it would have fallen right off if you had tried to pour it. 

“What?” Asked Sans as you placed the bottle on the counter. “You don't want any?”

You narrowed your eyes, “Frisk has me wise to all your tricks.” 

“Awe c’mon kiddo,” he said, glancing at Frisk, “you ruined the joke.”

_ “And you ruined my last order of fries. This is payback.” _

He chuckled, “fair enough.”

The three of you spent the evening chatting with each other until almost closing time. Sans got up off his stool.

“Welp, I should probably get home, you know how Paps gets,” Frisk nodded. They jumped off their stool as did you. They made for the door but you stayed put. They looked at you curiously.

“I normally stay with Grillby, and we have to catch up, but you can go with Sans if you-” they shook their head. “You wanna stay with me?” They nodded. Sans stared at them, looking a little hurt before shaking it off and giving you a smile.

“Like I said, they trust you.” He turned. 

You blinked, and he was gone.

Frisk took a hold of your hand and tried to stifle a yawn. “Getting tired?” you chuckled. They nodded and raised their arms towards you. “What? You want up?” They nodded again. “Aren’t you a little b-” but they were yawned again and pouted at you, giving you big puppy dog eyes. “Fine,” you sighed, reaching down to pick them up. They wrapped themselves around you, locking their arms around your neck and resting their head on your shoulder, they fell asleep. You checked the clock, it was just turning over to midnight. Grillby returned from the kitchen and brightened slightly, smiling. You carried Frisk over to him. “I told them I’d be staying at your place tonight, I hope that’s alright.” Grillby nodded. “Oh good,” you sighed. “Well, Frisk decided they didn’t want to be separated from me. Is it okay if they stay the night too? They can share the guest room with me. If not I ca-” Grillby held up a hand to stop you.

“That’s fine, I don’t mind. The child seems very attached to you.”

“Yeah, I guess they are.” You mumbled. Grillby led you back to his apartment and held the doors open so you could carry the sleeping Frisk through the doorways. As you entered the apartment you yawned. You could hear the familiar sound of fire crackling that was his chuckle.

“I would ask you about the last few days, but it seems that both of you need some rest. We can talk about it in the morning if you’d prefer. I haven’t taken my day off this week, so I won’t open the bar tomorrow.”

You smiled gratefully. “That would be nice, I really need to sleep in a proper bed.” you mumbled sleepily. He chuckled again.

“Well in that case I’ll see you in the morning.” As you headed toward the spare room Grillby called your name. You paused. “It’s… good to have you back.”

You smiled at him. “It’s good to be back.”

‘At least for now,’ you thought.

You carried Frisk into the room and pulled back the covers as best you could. Then, gently untangling their limbs from around you you set them in the bed. They rolled over and continued to sleep. You went around to the other side ofthe bed and got in, yawning. It had only been a few days really, but it felt like an eternity since you’d been here. You curled up under the covers and soon you were fast asleep.

You awoke feeling much better than you had the last few days and reached to check your clock. Your arm hit something on the way to the bedside table. You opened your tired eyes to see Frisk curled up against you, smiling in their sleep. You hoped they were having a good dream. You reached over them for your phone and checked the time, it wasn’t even eight yet. You sighed and relaxed into the bed, enjoying the comfort and opened up the Undernet app to check it out. It seemed to be pretty similar to Facebook in how it worked. Well, at least that made it easy to use. You sat on your phone for the next half hour until Frisk began to stir beside you. They sat up slowly and rubbed their eyes, yawning.

“Morning sleepyhead,” you said, still on your phone. That was until Frisk wiggled their way between your arms and body and hugged you.

“I’m glad you fell.” They mumbled quietly. “You make me feel safe.”

“Oh, I-I, well, th-thanks little one.” They just hugged you tighter. “What do you say we go and get some breakfast?” They nodded vigorously. You rolled out of bed and they followed suit, taking a hold of your hand and following you out of the room. Grillby was up and rummaging around in the kitchen. “Morning,” you called out.

“Good morn-” Grillby started as he came out of the kitchen. But he stopped when he saw Frisk, his flames flickering a little faster.

_ “Good morning!”  _ Frisk signed cheerily.

Grillby stood for a moment, seeming to think, before he nodded at Frisk and hurried back into the kitchen.

“Neither of you is gonna talk?” you asked, more so to yourself then either of them.

Frisk pulled you over to the table and sat down.  _ “I don’t think I’ve actually explained this. I’m selectively mute. I get anxious when I speak out loud, I always have. Most of the time to the point where I can’t speak so signing is a good alternative. I only talk to people I’m comfortable with, like you.”  _ they explained.

“Oh, Frisk I’m not upset, you don’t have to talk if you don’t want to.” You said, hoping they didn’t think you were upset with them. “I’m just, still not used to Grillby not talking to me. It’s one thing at the bar, but it just feels weird here.”

_ “Do you want me to leave?” _ They asked sadly.

“No, no, of course not! I’ll get used to it, it’s just different. It’s okay I promise. I would never make you leave.” They smiled at that.

Grillby brought back two plates and placed them in front of the both of you. Before you had the chance to speak to him he picked up his book and hid his face in it. You sighed and deflated a bit, you missed his voice, his laughter. His flames flickered a little faster and Frisk frowned at their breakfast. After a few silent moments they turned to him and tapped him on the arm, he jumped a bit but put his book down.

_ “Sorry about that,”  _ they signed.  _ “Breakfast was really good, thank you. Do you know how to sign?” _

He just stared at them bewildered and then sent you a look that clearly meant ‘help.’

“They apologized for touching you, thanked you for breakfast and asked if you could sign. You caught their ‘good morning’ earlier but what they said just now was a little much, so I’m guessing you don’t sign.” He shook his head sadly. “That’s okay,” you said to him as cheerily as you could muster. “I’ll translate for you.” He gave you a look of gratitude. “You’re welcome.” You heard a crackling sound as his flames brightened a bit and you grinned. Score.

Frisk was giving you a funny look. Before you could ask though they answered your question.  _ “You can understand him?” _

“Yeah for the most part, why?”

_ “It’s just, of all the times I’ve been to the bar I’ve never seen even one of his regulars understand him that well, not unless they’d known him for a very long time.” _

“Oh,” you replied.

Grillby gave you a look. ‘What did they say?’

The meal continued on like that, you translating between the two of them. After the meal the three of you moved to the living room and settled on the couch. You were just picking out a movie when there was knock on the door. Before anyone was able to get up and check who it was you heard them.

“FRISK! THE GREAT PAPYRUS REQUIRES YOUR ASSISTANCE ON PATROL THIS MORNING.”

Frisk giggled.  _ “I guess that’s my que. Have fun!” _

You ruffled their hair and chuckled. “We’ll try.”

Frisk ran off around the corner, but then poked their head back around.  _ “Oh, and try to smooch the flame man while I’m gone!”  _ They winked at you before disappearing, a second later the door slammed.

You could feel your face heating up as Grillby looked back and forth between you and the spot where Frisk had just been. “What was that? What did they say?”

“Nothing,” you said, looking straight at the TV.

“That was definitely not nothing! You’re blushing.”

You blushed harder. “Nope, complete gibberish, couldn’t understand a word of it. Now, let’s pick a movie shall we.”

Grillby sighed and let it go, figuring he would never get the answer out of you. Eventually ‘The Sound of Music’ caught your eye. “Aw man, I love this movie!”

“Then we’ll watch it.” Grillby replied grinning. “I do enjoy this movie quite a bit.”

You sang all the way through the movie, very aware of the fact that Grillby was more focused on you than the screen. When ‘Edelweiss’ came on you glanced at him, he looked as if he wanted to join in on your singing, but didn’t. After the song ended you turned to him.

“You know you can sing if you want.” He just blushed and focused on the screen. You knew he wanted to, and it wasn’t as if you were going to judge him.

Even if his voice was awful.

Which you had a feeling wasn’t.

Soon enough ‘Something Good’ came on and you began to sing.

 

“Perhaps I had a wicked childhood

Perhaps I had a miserable youth

But somewhere in my wicked, miserable past

There must have been a moment of truth

For here you are, standing there, loving me

Whether or not you should

So somewhere in my youth or childhood

I must have done something good

Nothing comes from nothing

Nothing ever could

So somewhere in my youth or childhood

I must have done something good”

 

After the short musical interlude you were about to come in again until you heard a very quiet voice singing the lines.

“For here you are, standing there, loving me

Whether or not you should,” he sang very quietly. A huge grin grew on your face as you continued the duet.

“So somewhere in my youth or childhood

I must have done something good”

Together you sang, “Nothing comes from nothing

Nothing ever could,”

“So somewhere in my youth,” you continued.

“Or childhood,” he sang back more confidently.

“I must have done something . . .”

“Something good.” you finished together.

 

“Wow Grillby,” you said quietly, “You didn’t tell me you could sing.”

“Well, I-I don’t do it very often, and certainly not in front of people.” He mumbled, not meeting your eyes, his face rather blue.

You could feel your face heating up, “Why me then?”

“You let me hear your voice, and… you looked so eager to hear me sing. I just figured, you wouldn’t judge me, s-so…” he trailed off.

“O-Oh,” you mumbled, unsure what to say. “Well, I like your voice. We sh-should sing together again sometime. I-If you want.”

He nodded. “Sure.”

You two sat in silence for the rest of the movie.

After the movie, both of your faces finally back to their regular colours, Grillby turned to you expectantly.

“So, what happened the last few days.”

“Oh, uh, a lot. Geez, where do I start?”

“The beginning,” he offered sarcastically. 

“Thanks,” you replied flatly. “Well, I left here and headed into Waterfall. There were a bunch of bridge seeds already in the water and I followed some to a little bench. That’s where Sans found me. He apologized and t-”

“For what?” 

Right, Grillby didn’t know that yet.

Fuck.

“Okay,” you sighed. “I’ll tell you, but don’t freak out alright?” Grillby nodded patiently.

You took a deep breath “When I fell, I fell into the ruins. Once I’d made it through there I was walking through the woods west of Snowdin and, I, ran into Sans. He… wasn’t happy to see me, all things considered and he, over-reacted.”

Grillby waited, you’d been meaning to tell him, but it was harder than you had expected. “He was worried that I was going to, to, hurt everyone. He didn’t bother to check and see if I had hurt anyone yet. He, used his powers to slam me into a tree, it-” The flames on Grillby’s head swooshed upwards quickly, going red. The air began to feel funny. Unlike Sans’ magic, Grillby’s felt warm, but this heat was stifling. It felt like you were back in Hotland but worse.

He stood up, turning to the door. “Grillby wait!” you cried, jumping to your feet and reaching for his arm. You grabbed his wrist but immediately recoiled at the heat, his arm was burning hot. He turned on you.

“Why?!” He yelled. “You were almost dead when he brought you to me! He tried to kill you and you FORGIVE HIM?!?! I get now why he didn’t tell me what he did! He knew I’d kill him when I found out! I knew he had done something but I didn’t expect THAT! I thought you had been hurt when he found you! That he’d done SOMETHING! NOT THAT HE’D ALMOST KILLED YOU FOR NO REASON!!!”

You stared at the man, for the first time you had seen his mouth. It stretched across his face in a jagged line, and when he opened it there seemed to be lava dripping from the roof of his mouth to the bottom. The jagged edges seem to make up teeth, or fangs.

You knew that any normal, sane person would be terrified, utterly and completely terrified. But you were mesmerised.

You never liked the idea of being normal anyway.

You stared at his open mouth and gingerly held the hand that you were beginning to suspect was actually burned. Grillby paused for a moment, partially returning to his normal colour. He looked from your face to your hand and quickly brought his own hand up over his mouth. You took a step forward.

“Grillby,” you said softly. But he backed away, shaking his head.

“N-No, I-I-I, you shouldn’t, I-I can’t” he stammered, staring down at your palm. “I’m so sorry.” his voice was almost a whisper.

You took another step forward but Grillby took off down the hallway.

A moment later you heard his bedroom door slam.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aw, now Grillby's sad. Be prepared for more fluff and semi-serious conversations next chapter.
> 
> Also Frisk and Sans ship it.


	11. Chapter 10: Once Upon A Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So... 
> 
> You should talk to Grillby.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry it's been so long. It's school, I'm just finishing my semester now so it's been busy and I haven't had much free time but I have more this week so hopefully I'll be able to update a few times before practicum starts. 
> 
> You'll need this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seOO1MFcQo4

You stood, processing what had just happened. As the heat in the room dissipated the heat radiating from your hand became very apparent. You glanced down at it, the space where your fingers connected to your palm and the space at the bottom of the thumb were red like a sunburn and slightly swollen. You sighed and went to bathroom. Running your hand under the cool water you couldn't stop the worried thoughts. You had been the one to grab him, and yet you knew he was blaming himself for the burn. And…

He had shown you his mouth. You knew that most people would be terrified by it, it did look very monsterish. But, just like his eyes you were mesmerized. Though, if he didn't want you to see it then the way he covered his mouth when he first talked to you made sense.

You pulled your hand out from under the water and wandered into the kitchen, grabbing your bag on the way in. You had never been in there before, and you had a feeling you weren't really supposed to, but he had never explicitly told you not to. You searched through your bag until you found the cider he’d made you. You poured yourself a mug and drank it. Warmth washed over you, everywhere but your hand. You looked down, it was still burned. Weird. You searched the room, finding a cloth and a cold pack, surprisingly. You hadn't expected him to have one but you weren't complaining. After wrapping your hand in the cloth and placing the cold pack in your palm you walked down the hallway and stood outside the door.

“Grillby, it’s okay, I’m fine, you can come out.”

There was no response.

“Seriously, just come out and we can talk about all of this.” Still no response. You sighed and slumped down on the floor, staring at his door. You could have continued to call out his name, but you figured no amount of coaxing would get him out any faster.

A half hour passed, then another and there was still no sign of him. You pulled out your phone and scrolled through until you found Sans’ number.

[You: Help! Grillby is in his room and won’t come out! I don’t know what to do!]

[Sans: woah wait whats going on? why is he in his room? what happened?]

[Y: I told him what you did, he didn’t take it well…]

[S: oh]

[Y: He got really angry, he showed his mouth and when I tried to stop him from doing something dumb I got burned and now he’s hiding from me.]

[S: dammit well hes probably blaming himself. the important thing is wait and dont leave. he ll come out and he ll need you there when he does. good luck kid]

[Y: Thanks.]

You put away your phone and went back to staring at the door. You still had no idea how to get him out of there. After an hour and a half had passed in all you got up and headed to the hallway closet, you grabbed every blanket you could and carried them to the out to the living room. You then raided the spare room for every last pillow. You passed some time making a pillow and blanket fort, being mindful of your burn. It was inconveniently placed, but no worse than a sunburn really. 

You doubted Grillby would see it that way.

You checked your phone, he’d been in there for almost two hours. You went back to the hall, there was heat radiating from the door, and steam was seeping under it. You hoped he was doing okay in there. You were so worried, you missed him, though it had only been a few hours. The anxiety was starting to build, but you didn’t know what to do about it.

He had been locked away for almost three hours before you tried speaking again.

“So, I know you're really upset right now, but I just want to know if you’re okay.” 

There was no response, so you tried something different. 

“You probably know this, but humans are made up of mostly water. We need it to survive, it’s second only to air.” 

“There’s this song that’s been stuck in my head the last few hours and…  I guess I think you might like it…”

 

“It's 10 past 2, still up thinking of you

If I showed you all I really want to

Would you stay, dare to push me away

I just can't return anymore

 

Timid heart, hide my scars

Make me stronger

 

I can't take this any longer

I need, I need you like water

It's on the tip of my tongue

I'm not asking for much

Just your love and not another

Cause your embrace keeps me warmer

Could I tell you this time

How I wish you were mine

 

My voice cracks, I wait for it to pass

Heart beats fast for words I can't take back

And so I pray I don't drive you away

Cause I'm scared of what I have to tell you

 

Timid heart, hide my scars

Make me stronger

 

I can't take this any longer

I need, I need you like water

It's on the tip of my tongue

I'm not asking for much

Just your love and not another

Cause your embrace keeps me warmer

Could I tell you this time

How I wish you were mine

 

I'll take you higher, take you high

I can make you come alive

Open your eyes, change your mind

I'll take you higher, take you high

 

I can't take this any longer

I need, I need you like water

It's on the tip of my tongue

I'm not asking for much

Just your love and not another

Cause your embrace keeps me warmer

Could I tell you this time

How I wish you were mine

How I wish you were mine

How I wish you were mine”

 

You waited five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes.

Tears sprung up in your eyes.

“Grillby please!” you cried. “I know you’re upset but nothing will get better if you just stay in there! I’m so worried about you! I’m so so scared! You’ve never done this to me before, why are you shutting me out now? I know you’re mad at Sans, and yourself, and maybe even me! But, just talk to me!” your voice cracked, as you began to sob. “please…” You crumpled to the ground in tears, sobbing into your good hand and the cloth, though the cold pack had long since melted.

The door cracked.

You sniffed, looking up at the man of flames.

He was peeking around the door, his flames were dimmer than you had ever seen them before. Steam was rising up from around his eyes, his glasses weren’t on his face. He locked eyes with you for a second before looking away, moving his hands to cover his face. You stood and grabbed his wrists gently, wincing slightly at the pain in your hand.

“Don’t,” you mumbled. “I’m not afraid of you.”

He seemed to tense slightly, but relented and opted for taking your burnt hand in his palm.

He forced out what sounded like a sob, more steam escaped from the corners of his eyes. Your heart wretched as you realized that he was crying.

“I tried the cider,” you mumbled. “But…”

Grillby shook his head. “I… can’t heal burns…” he choked out, not bothering to hide his mouth anymore. “They’re the one thing I can’t fix.”

“That’s fine,” you paused, looking up at him and waiting for him to meet your gaze. Eventually he did. “It will heal.”

He said nothing else, he simply cried silently. You stood with him until he calmed. Then, you gently took his hand and led him out to the living room. Once you got there you stood aside and let him take in the view.

For a split second, he smiled.

“What…?”

“I built you a blanket and pillow fort.” you said, slightly shakily. “My parents used to do this for me when I was sad. We would sit in the fort and have life chats all day. It always made me feel better, it gave me a safe space to work out my problems and people I trusted to talk to. So, you can go in and think, but I’ll only go in if you invite me.”

He smiled again, this time for longer and crawled inside the fort and beckoned to you to come in.

You giggled, “You have to properly invite me.”

“That’s just childish.” he replied.

“I’m not hearing an invitation.” you called back in a sing-song voice.

He sighed from inside the fort. “Will you join me in the fort?”

“I would love to.” you replied grinning. You got down on your good hand and knees and crawled into the small space you’d made. He was sitting cross-legged in the corner waiting for you.

“So,” he paused. “What do we do now?”

“Well,” you started, chewing your lip. “I think we should talk about what happened. I know that it made you really upset but unless we talk about it there’s always going to be questions hanging over us…”

He took a deep breath and you wondered if he really needed it. Once again he reached for your hand and examined the burn closely. Placing his hands around your burned one he closed his eyes. You felt a much larger surge of warmth rush through you then before, you could feel it everywhere, but your palm. He opened his eyes hopefully and looked down at your palm to see no change. Steam started to rise from around his eyes again.

“I apologize,” he muttered quietly. “That was stupid, I knew it wouldn’t work, I just…”

“Grillby, it’s fine.” You replied gently, looking up at him. “I told you it will heal. And it’s not your fault. I-”

“How could you say that!” He choked out. “I lost me temper. I should have had more control. I could have gone and hurt Sans, or hurt you even worse than I already have. I’m so-”

“Wait no! I’m the one who grabbed you! It’s my fault!”

“But I lost control of my temper!”

You sighed. “Okay, so maybe there’s blame to share then.”

“Maybe…” he trailed off, seeming unconvinced.

You studied his face, “I can tell there’s something about that that’s bothering you, something you haven’t told me. If you don’t want to I understand but you can tell-”

He started before you even finished. “It’s just, I’ve worked so hard to be able to stay calm and collected. It’s part of why I became a bartender. I can remain calm in the strangest of situations. But, with you.” He paused, “I lose control of my temper. I get too emotional when you’re involved and… I don’t know why…”

You could feel the heat in your face and you were sure the blush was very apparent. What did he just admit? Was he trying to tell you he had feelings for you? The more thoughts that rushed into your head the deeper your blush got.“Y-You really feel that way?” You asked, not meeting his eyes.

Grillby, his face tinged slightly blue, looked up at you and chuckled. “Of course. I’ve told you I care for you greatly. Sometimes so much that is clouds my judgment. You mean the world to me.”

“A-A-Ah, I-I-I-” you stuttered out.

“Oh dear,” he chuckled. “It seems I’ve left you at a loss for words.”

You dived into a pile of pillows, refusing to look at him. Your face was hotter than ever. 

And then you heard laughter. Real laughter. The crackling sound was still there but much louder than that was a great bellowing laugh. You peaked out from behind the pillow to see Grillby holding his stomach and laughing with his mouth open.

You sat up, with a look of awe on your face. As he calmed down he noticed you watching him. He quieted rather quickly and shut his mouth looking away. “You see what I mean, I lose control of my emotions. Its as if, around you, I can’t help but be completely myself.”

You just stared at him, dumbfounded. After a few moments you very eloquently replied with, “You have a really nice laugh.”

So poetic.

Dumbass.

You felt the urge to head-desk and lamented the fact that there were no desks present.

Grillby chuckled, “You really think so?”

“Yeah.” Was your intelligent reply.

“Well,” he sighed. “I’m glad somebody does.”

“Why wouldn’t they, it’s wonderful, you’re wonderful.” You hadn't planned on saying that last part and your face heated up a bit again, but Grillby seemed a bit more lost in thought.

“You wouldn’t say that if you knew the damage I could do…” he said it in barely more than a whisper. You wondered if you were really supposed to hear it.

“Damage? What damage would you do?”

Grillby was staring off, as if looking at something far away. “It was a very long time ago now, so long ago in fact that most of the humans have forgotten. The ones that fall down here are surprised, like they didn’t know, it seems we’ve been erased from their narrative. But, there was a time when we all lived peacefully, until they grew suspicious of us, of our ability to absorb their souls.”

“They called it witchcraft, we couldn’t be trusted, we were dangerous. War broke out. I was so young, on the edge of becoming an adult. I had learned to heal as a boy and I joined the monsters, healing our soldiers as well as the humans that fought with us. We were winning until the humans on our side abandoned us. The ones who tried to stay weren’t trusted. After that we needed all the soldiers we could get. I… I joined the war. There never were a lot of elementals, so I was valuable. I burned villages… Not only that, I burned people, alive. It was ‘us versus them’ they told us. We had no choice unless we wanted to be slaughtered.”

“It’s been over half a millennia since then, and I still hear the screams, still smell the burning flesh. It’s such an awful smell. I thought, at the time, that it was for the best, that it would help us win, but it only caused more misery. I destroyed so much, and when we were sealed underground, my rage was out of control. I had never liked hurting people, I had never wanted to hurt anyone, but I did because I was told it would help. And it all ended up being for nothing. I couldn't control my temper, I was dangerous at times.”

He took a deep breath. “I learned to control it eventually, but the damage was done. The explorers who had come had initially called me ‘Ingis’ which means fire and the local humans took to calling me that as well, but during the war they took to calling me ‘Inferna.’”

He didn’t need to explain what that word meant. “Once underground, monsters continued to call me that. I didn’t help that I kept having outbursts. Once the anger faded though, all that was left was shame. I began to hide my eyes and mouth, though it took a lot of effort, and eventually people moved on. I learned how to control myself and became a calm and collected person.”

He turned toward you, and stared at you. “I was always worried that if someone… saw me… truly… that they would be afraid of me, they would run in fear, they would only see the monster, and not the man. But you seem only fascinated, maybe that’s only because you haven’t really seen what I can do…”

You tried to speak, but no sound came out. He hugged his arms around himself. “But the worst thing… is that now I am feeling so much more like I did before, because of you. It feels freer, but more out of control. I was worried that I would lose myself and hurt you in to process,” He dropped his face into his hands, “And now I have…”

“Grillby…” you choked out. What do you even say to all that? Is there something to say? You took a deep breath. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I… I know that I can’t know how you feel completely… But I want you to know I can take care of myself. What happened today was an accident, and my fault for trying to grab you. But more then that, I trust you. I trust that you would never seriously hurt me. That yo-”

“How can you say that?” He cried. “I’ve hurt people, so many people! What makes you so special?!”

“You tell me.” You answered simply. Grillby stared at you, his mouth hanging open.

When he didn’t answer you supplied him with one. “What you did was a long time ago, you’ve grown and changed so much since then. I know you’re worried, but I think you can handle this. So I’ve thrown you off guard a little, I think you’ll be okay.”

He stared at you for a long while. “I hope you’re right.”

You smiled at him, “I have faith in you.”

“I believe that,” he chuckled, “And that you trust me, although I’m not sure about being able to take care of yourself.”

You gave him a playful glare, “I can defend myself.”

“So you just let Papyrus break your leg?”

“I got distracted!” You exclaimed indignantly.

“Hmm.” he hummed, “alright.”

“I can take care of myself! I’m not a child! Just because you haven't seen what I can do does-”

“What can you do?” He asked, curious. You could feel the colour draining from your face. This wasn’t the conversation you had planned on having today. You blinked at him, unsure what to say. “It’s alright if you don’t wish to tell me.” He responded quietly.

“It’s not that… I just… maybe another time?”

He nodded and gave you a smile, “I trust you’ll tell me when you’re ready, and, when you think I’m ready.” 

“Thanks.” You mumbled. You were both silent for a moment.

“You know,” he started. “You never did finish telling me what happened in Waterfall.”

“Oh, yeah I guess I didn’t. Well I talked to Sans, he explained why he did what he did, and apologized. He wasn’t really expecting me to accept it, but I did. I know why he did it and while it may seem that there is no reason good enough to warrant what he did trust me when I say there is. He still felt awful about it though, and he wanted me to know that.” You glanced at Grillby, he seemed a little tense, but he wasn’t angry, so that was good. 

“I continued through Waterfall and meet this little guy named Woshua and we hung out for the rest of the day. I found a piano at one point and we sat while I played songs while he hummed along. Eventually we found a place to sleep and set off again the next day until I came to a ledge and continued on on my own until…” You paused. “U-Until I got to the edge of the bridge, and I thought I saw something but when I turned to look something tripped me.” You raised your hand to your throat. “Whatever it was choked me as I fell… Until I blacked out.”

Grillby tensed up more beside you, but said nothing. “I woke up on a bed of flowers, I’m still not sure how I survived the fall but I did. After that I meet Frisk, we hung out with a little ghost for a while and then were chased by Undyne until she finally headed us off right before Hotland. We battled her I,” You took a deep breath. You couldn’t very well say that Frisk had died, you were pretty sure Grillby didn’t know about the resets. “We both took some damage but we made it through until we got to Dr. Alphys lab and met her and Mettaton. It was… definitely interesting. Frisk wanted to keep going but, I convinced them to come back and take a bit of a break for a while, so we did, and now I’m here.”

“Now you’re here.” He repeated, his face fell. “Though I suspect not for long.” 

You looked away from him. “We’ll have to move on eventually.” You mumbled. “Frisk wants to get home, I want to get home. I have a life up there, I can’t forget that…”

He sighed. “I do understand, I’ll just… miss you.”

Both of you were silent for a while. Frisk was on route for the pacifist ending weren’t they? So, they could free everyone, and you could all go to the surface together. But…

You looked over at Grillby who seemed to be looking anywhere but you. You couldn’t tell him could you? You doubted he knew about the timelines, or that he’d truly believe you if you told him. For now you’d have to keep that to yourself.

You looked down at your hands. Even after you got to the surface, was it really a good idea to stay near him? He had said himself that he had a hard time staying collected around you. Maybe it would be better for him if you just left him alone. Maybe you didn’t fall down here for any real reason. Maybe you were just messing everything up. You hugged yourself tightly, lost in thought. A warm hand rested itself on your shoulder, you looked over to see Grillby giving you a kind expression. 

“I know that one day soon, you’ll leave again. And, at some point, it will be for good. So, I think instead of dwelling on that we should enjoy the time we are both here, and not worry so much about what the future will bring.” You knew that a part of him saying that was for himself, but it was nice to hear nonetheless. “From what you’ve told me, the last few days have been eventful, so why don’t you rest here for a while.”

You smiled weakly, “I’d like that.” 

He returned your smile as the two of you heard knocking at the door. You followed him out of the fort and to the front door where a very soaked Frisk was waiting with a large grin on their face.

“You had a good day with Papyrus I trust?” You asked, chuckling as they stepped inside. They nodded.

_ “Yeah, but we had a snowball fight with Sans and now I’m kinda soaked. Do you think you could get your boyfriend to use some magic to dry me off.” _ They grinned at you.

“Not if you’re gonna call him that.” You hissed at them, blushing.

Grillby looked between the two of you, confused. He caught your attention and motioned toward Frisk. 

“Oh, they want to know if you’ll dry them off, seeing as they got into a snowball fight with Sans.” You replied, shooting Frisk a quick glare, they just gave you an innocent smile.

Grillby got a little brighter, seeming to smile and held up one finger before hurrying off down the hall. He returned a moment later with his glasses on his face. He motioned for you to stand back.

You moved back as he placed his hands on Frisk’s head. What felt like warm wind seemed to swirl around the room (and you could swear the air was sparkling) and you watched as Frisk’s clothes seemed to dry off. After mere moments it was over and Grillby removed his hands from Frisk’s head.

“Woah,” You breathed out. You looked at Grillby as he placed a hand over his mouth and laughed. You heard the crackling, and a faint rumble of laughter. You smiled at him kindly as he ushered you and Frisk into the living room. When Frisk saw the blanket fort they gasped and made a beeline for it, diving inside. You chuckled as Grillby leaned in toward you.

“I’m going to make you two some dinner, why don’t you two go catch up.”

You gave him a smile. “What would I do without you?” He chuckled and shrugged as he made his way to the kitchen. You crawled into the fort and Frisk tackled you with a hug.

“Hey, little one. Did you miss me that much?” They nodded. “Well I missed you too.” They pulled away enough to sign and proceeded to tell you about their day and everything they did with Sans and Papyrus. Finally a grin crossed their face. “What is that look for?” You asked.

_ “Did you smooch the flame man?” _

“No I did not smooch the flame man.” You hissed.

_ “Well you should because you two obviously like each other! Plus you’d make a cute couple.” _

“Firstly,” you whispered. “How would you even know that? Sure, okay, I have feelings for him but that doesn’t mean he feels the same way. And secondly, it doesn’t matter if you think we’re cute together, that’s irrelevant. Besides, it’s a lot more complicated than you’d think. I can’t just tell him- I mean I couldn’t- just- he’d- he’d…”

_ “He’d what?” _ They asked. You fell silent. What would he say if you told him you had feelings for him? Even if he felt similar you had known each other for such a short time. There was no way that could go well. And after what he’d told you, you felt you’d be forcing yourself on him if you told him. He didn’t need to worry about a romantic relationship with you on top of everything else. Especially since he didn’t know what that would entail. He didn’t know what you were dealing with. You couldn’t drag him into the mess that was you. That just wouldn’t be fair.

“I’ve only known him for a week,” you mumbled weakly.

_ “It takes less time than that to fall in love.” _

“Love!?” You exclaimed.

Grillby poked his head in, no doubt wondering why you had just yelled love.

_ “She’s in love with you.”  _ Frisk signed at him simply. 

You could have spontaneously combusted right there. Grillby was confused and waiting for a translation while you could feel your face heating up. Frisk signed your name and wondered what they were doing until-  _ “and Grillby sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-” _

You grabbed a pillow and screamed into it as Frisk fell backwards in laughter. You could feel Grillby’s gaze on you. “Don’t ask.” You muttered into the pillow. Frisk giggled.

You peaked out from behind the pillow to see Grillby shaking his head and heading back to the kitchen. “Frisk, I swear you’re gonna be the death of me.”

_ “I dunno,”  _ They signed, grinning.  _ “Grillby might set your heart aflame first.” _

The sound you made in reply to that statement was inhuman and Grillby soon came running in looking concerned.

The rest of the evening went something like that. You and Frisk taught Grillby some basic signs so that he could communicate with Frisk. In between teaching, Frisk made you blush as much as they could, though not to make fun of you, as you guessed, but because the way Grillby looked at you every time was too cute. They decided that they’d ask Sans tomorrow to help get you two together because it was obvious that you were meant to be.

And because they liked playing matchmaker.

A lot.

The three you spent the whole evening in the fort. Frisk fell asleep first and you and Grillby stayed up chatting late into the night until sleep overtook you.


	12. Chapter 11: She’s Playing Piano

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You begin to feel more and more like you're a burden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ~PLEASE READ~
> 
> I know depression is in the tags but seriously this chapter has a lot of negative self talk. If it's too hard on you then feel free to go to the end notes where there's a synopsis of the chapter. Please don't read through if it's too much!
> 
> For those of you reading through you'll need  
> this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxEPV4kolz0  
> and this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oWjGpWMXCSE

You awoke the next morning and didn’t initially open your eyes. Something behind you was very warm and you snuggled backwards into it. You were so comfortable, even without a blanket.

Wait, no blanket?

You opened your eyes groggily and took in your surroundings. You were lying on your side with Frisk curled up against your front. There was light emanating from behind you and something warm was wrapped around your waist. You couldn’t see what was behind you but you glanced down toward your waist and froze, feeling your face heat up, though it had nothing to do with the heat behind you. There was an arm made of fire wrapped around you. You swore that you hadn’t fallen asleep like that, had you? 

Frisk, now apparently awake, caught your eye.  _ “Comfortable?”  _ They giggled.

“Don’t start,” you muttered. “It’s too early for that.”

“Too early for what?” You heard Grillby mumble sleepily from behind you, wrapping his arm more tightly around you and pulling you closer. Your heart skipped a beat and your blush deepened. If you had wanted to escape, now you couldn’t.

That was only if you had wanted to.

You didn’t.

Frisk grinned more widely at you. Grillby said nothing more and you realized he had barely been awake a moment ago, and had probably fallen back asleep since.

You still weren’t going to risk him hearing something.

_ “Seriously dude, you have to stop the teasing. With us teaching him sign language he’s eventually gonna understand what you are saying.”  _ You signed to Frisk as best you could on your side.

_ “No can do, big one.”  _ They replied smugly.

“Why???” You hissed quietly.

_ “Because it’s so obvious that you’re meant to be. I know you’re not really seeing it but trust me, everyone else does.” _

_ “Look,”  _ you replied irritatedly.  _ “I appreciate that you think we’re cute together but it’s just not that easy, and what do you mean everyone?” _

Frisk shrugged.  _ “I think it’s a lot less complicated than you’re making it. And okay so maybe not everyone, but Sans and Papyrus are both on my side in this.” _

“You told Papyrus!” You exclaimed. Grillby shifted, pulling you even closer, and kept sleeping.

_ “I tell him everything, he’s a surprisingly good listener.”  _

_ “I guess that’s true,”  _ You replied.  _ “Though, I kinda figured you’d tell Sans all that stuff.” _

Frisk didn’t meet your eyes.  _ “ I tell Sans… different things.”  _ You were confused by that, but Frisk didn’t seem in the mood to talk about it now. They looked up behind you and grinned, you could feel Grillby stirring.  _ “I’ll give you two some privacy.” _

You couldn’t think of an appropriate comeback before they had left the fort. Grillby moved more and it seemed that he was actually waking up for real now. You spent too long contemplating if you should pretend to be sleeping and so Grillby awoke and immediately backed away from you. You turned to see his whole face was very blue. His mouth was moving but no words were coming out, instead you heard the hissing, spitting, and crackling of fire, but in a very distinct pattern. You gave Grillby a very confused look. The sounds slowed down and suddenly he clapped his hands over his mouth with a look of horror in his eyes.

“Grillby, it’s okay!” You said hurriedly, “Was… Was that… your language?” He nodded slowly avoiding eye contact. “Well, I think I have an idea of what you’re thinking right now and I’m not afraid of you. I know it’s hard for you to understand but I’m never going to be afraid of you. I know you’ve done bad but I’ve seen worse.”

His expression changed to one of confusion.

Once again you had stuck your foot in your mouth.

Was there a desk anywhere nearby?

“How could you have seen worse?” He asked faintly.

“I told you I could take care of myself,” you muttered, looking away from him. “I’ve seen some bad stuff.”

“Oh,” was all he could say.

The two of you were silent for a few minutes. Frisk poked their head into the fort.  _ “Breakfast?” _

Grillby stared at them for a moment and then nodded.  _ “Yes, of course.” _ He hurried out of the fort and into the kitchen to make food. Frisk crawled into the fort.  _ “You okay? You guys got really quiet.” _

“No,” you muttered, hugging your knees. “It got weird, I told you it was complicated. I can’t just tell him how I’m feeling, there’s more to it than that.”

_ “Aww, I was hoping he’d profess his love for you after waking up with you in his arms.” _

“Can you be serious please?” You snapped.

Frisk stuck their tongue out at you.  _ “No.”  _ They signed.  _ “You need to just relax. It is really as easy as telling him how you feel.” _

You would have continued to protest but you didn’t have the energy this morning. “C’mon, let’s go get breakfast.”

You and Frisk headed to the table and sat quietly until Grillby brought the food. Frisk taught him some more signs and they had a conversation but you were too lost in thought to really pay attention. You wanted to mention his language but he seemed to be in a better mood now and you didn’t want to ruin that. You stared down at your burned palm. It felt like you ruined his mood a lot. He was always so worried about you and upset if anything went wrong for you, or if anyone hurt you. You had told him he could handle this, how strongly he felt and his loss of control, and he probably could, but you were still making things harder for him. After everything he’d done for you all you’d given him in return was anxiety and fear. He didn’t deserve that. After all this was over, after you got back to the surface, would it be selfish to keep him in your life? He gave you a sense of calmness and safety, but you had nothing to offer him. To keep him in your life, that would make you an even more terrible person than you already were. Not to mention the depression, and anxiety that plagued your mind. And the small detail of your souls and what you could do. If he knew, if any of them knew, they would never forgive you, never trust you. You balled your hands into fists. How could you even think of dragging him into all of this, he didn’t deserve that.

He deserved so much better than that.

A warm, fiery hand rested itself on top of one of your fists. You relaxed it and looked up into Grillby’s concerned face. “I-I’m alright.” You muttered shakily. “Just got lost in thought.” You could see that he didn’t really believe you, but he didn’t want to push it at the moment. You got up from your seat. “We should probably get over to the bar soon.” Grillby glanced at the clock and then looked at you for a long moment. When you didn’t say anything else he just nodded and took the dishes to the kitchen. Frisk tugged on your sleeve.

_ “What’s wrong?” _

“Nothing, little one.”

Frisk looked unconvinced.  _ “Your hands are shaking, and you look really sad.” _ You felt a lump in your throat. You tried to swallow it down and stared at Frisk, unsure what to say.

They began to sign,  _ “So count your blessings every day. It makes the monsters go away. And everything will be okay. You are not alone. You are right at home.”  _ They rushed forward to hug you and you bit back the tears that were threatening to spill over.

“Thanks, little one.” You muttered, hugging them tightly.

The three of you headed to the bar and Grillby and Frisk spent the rest of the day hovering over you. Grillby brought you large meals full of comfort foods (and you were seriously questioning how he had all of the ingredients for these meals at the bar since he only ever seemed to serve burgers and fries) and inbetween made sure you always had snacks. You smiled at him every time he brought you something and reassured him that you were okay but the facade was growing tiring. You wilted whenever you thought he wasn’t looking, falling back into the same circle of thinking. You wanted so badly to stay near him. You wanted him to be a part of your life, but that was so selfish. You were nothing but a burden on him, causing him more difficulties. You knew you were spiraling downward, even if you didn’t want to admit it, and you didn’t want to drag him down with you. So you did your best to pretend you were okay for his sake, even though you had a sinking feeling it wasn’t working.

Frisk had a different method. They held back on the teasing as much as they could and even made Sans leave you alone when he arrived. They spent most of the day by your side, only leaving for brief periods, and then returning quickly. They spent the morning clinging to you and sitting on your lap, signing to you with a small frown on their face. They didn’t know why you were so sad. Maybe this morning hadn’t gone exactly as planned, but they had a feeling that wasn’t what was bothering you now. Halfway through the afternoon though they changed their approach. Teaming up with Sans they began cracking jokes and pulling pranks to make you laugh, or at least smile.

And, for a while, you let it work. You enjoyed their company and cracked up every time Sans told a bad joke or Frisk made a silly face. For a little while, you tried to forget that you were  only weighing them all down. But as the evening wore on the feeling came creeping back to you, you still laughed at the jokes and even cracked a few of your own. The thoughts soon plagued your mind again and by closing you were just ready to head back to Grillby’s to get some sleep. As expected Frisk insisted on coming with you. They curled up in the guest room with you that night and were quick to fall asleep. You, however, tossed and turned for longer than you’d like to admit. Even though you felt exhausted you barley spelt a wink.

The next two days were more of the same, though you were a little better at finding your mood, so Frisk and Sans assumed you were feeling better. Grillby still gave you careful looks and tried to feed you way too much food, but with Frisk around you constantly he didn’t get a moment to ask you what was going on. He wasn’t sure if you’d want to discuss all of this with them too, so he let it be until Sunday morning. 

You awoke in a cold sweat that cold morning in a bed that was in the middle of the room. You carefully hovered it back over to the wall where it was supposed to be and looked around. Frisk was nowhere to be seen. You frowned, it wasn’t like them to get out of bed before you, let alone leave the room. You jumped out of bed and checked the rest of the room before unsynthesizing your souls. At least everything else was still in its place. You headed to the bathroom, figuring Frisk had just gone out to get food early since Grillby was normally awake but now. You showered longer than normal, trying to wash away the images of the nightmare.

Heading to the dining area you expected to see Frisk sitting at the table. So your panic when you discovered that they weren’t there was justified. You began frantically searching the room, looking anywhere you could think of until Grillby called your name. You spun around to face him.

“I assume you’re looking for Frisk?” You just nodded. “They left early.”

“Where did they go?” You asked.

“They said they were going to Undyne’s.”

“And you didn’t think to wake me?!” You snapped. Grillby flinched slightly. The two of you just stared at each other.

When you finally broke eye contact Grillby said your name softly. “What’s been going on with you? I know you think you’re hiding it, but I can see you’re not okay.”

“It’s nothing,” You lied. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. You didn’t deserve that.”

He gave you a hard stare and you fidgeted. “I know you like to keep your secrets to yourself. And I can tell that there’s a lot you haven’t told me. But, if something’s bothering you, if something’s wrong…” he trailed off, unsure how to continue. You resisted the urge to snap again. It wasn’t Grillby’s fault you were tired, irritable, and upset and he didn’t deserve to be yelled at for nothing.

“I’m fine,” you muttered. “Nothing’s wrong, I’m just tired.”

He didn’t believe you; but every time he tried to talk to you about something serious, at least  where you were concerned, you shut him down. He knew that pushing this wouldn’t help at all, so he went to grab your breakfast. Among other things he was worried about your eating. You had barely touched your food these past few days, more preoccupied by your thoughts. So he had begun to make smaller meals in hopes that you’d finish off your plate, but that wasn’t working very well. Grillby was, in a word, frustrated. He didn’t know how to help you. He could tell that something was wrong, and it had gotten worse over the last few days, but you wouldn’t talk about it and nothing he was doing was improving your mood. He didn’t know how to get you to trust him enough to tell him what was happening and it was upsetting him. But if there was one thing he knew it was that the last you needed was him getting upset with you. He had already done that more than he would like to admit in the almost two weeks he had known you.

Had it really only been two weeks? It felt like so much longer. Two weeks and you had broken down so many carefully constructed walls. 

And yet he couldn’t break down any of yours.

You sat at the table as Grillby brought you breakfast. You ate quietly until you were almost finished and he cleared his throat. You looked up at him, expectantly, waiting.

“The other day, when I… I didn't mean to…”

“It's fine. I already told you I'm not afraid of you.” You muttered.

“It's not that.” He replied quietly. “It's just… I didn't want to introduce it to you like that.” You finally looked up at him. “I was reluctant to share my language at first, but I've grown more comfortable with you. I just, would have rather you heard it when I meant to use it.”

You felt like you should have had more of a reaction. But all you could say was “oh.”

Silence.

“Well, I should get going, I need to catch up with Frisk.”

You got up and went to get your bag. Grillby stayed at the table, unsure what to say. You headed to the door. Grillby called your name softly.

“Just… let me know if you need anything, alright?” You nodded, unsure if he actually saw you, and left.

You walked through Snowdin shivering. It was a cold morning and seeing as it was May you didn’t have a real coat. You wondered if you should have invested in one at some point. Was it really that important? You made it to Waterfall rather quickly and started through it, through the water, the tall grass and over the bridge seeds. You remembered the little bench, but didn’t really feel like going to see it. Through the archway and there were echo flowers, the wishing room. You made your way to the cave entrance without looking in the telescope. 

Glyphs.

“The war between humans and monsters”

“Why did the humans attack? Indeed, it seemed they had nothing to fear. Humans are unbelievably strong. It would take the soul of nearly every monster just to equal the power of a single human soul.”

“But humans have one weakness. Ironically, it is the strength of their soul. Its power allows it to persist outside of the human body, even after death.”

“If a monster defeats a human, they can take its soul. A monster with a human soul… A horrible beast with unfathomable power.”

The unsettling picture of the monster with a human soul.

You stepped out onto the raft not thinking about how you couldn't see the water. You got off and made your way across another bridge. Humans. Horrible humans caused all this.

Humans like you.

Through more tall grass and to the paths along the glowing marsh, passing the echo flowers without a second thought. It occurred to you that you didn’t actually know where Undyne lived. You were just wandering aimlessly.

“The power to take their souls. This is what the humans feared.”

You passed by an underground lake. Didn’t you meet Woshua last time you were here?

Up ahead there were more glyphs, but around the corner you could hear someone singing and playing piano..

“He says, “Son can you play me a memory

I'm not really sure how it goes

But it's sad and it's sweet

And I knew it complete

When I wore a younger man's clothes.””

You turned the corner to see Undyne at the piano. You stayed in the corner so she wouldn’t see you.

“Sing us a song you're the piano man

Sing us a song tonight

Well we're all in the mood for a melody

And you've got us feeling alright

Now John at the bar is a friend of mine

He gets me my drinks for free

And he's quick with a joke or to light up your smoke

But there's someplace that he'd rather be

He says, “Bill, I believe this is killing me.”

As a smile ran away from his face

“Well, I'm sure that I could be a movie star

If I could get out of this place.”

Now Paul is a real estate novelist

Who never had time for a wife

And he's talking with Davy, who's still in the Navy

And probably will be for life”

You joined in quietly, singing along.

“And the waitress is practicing politics

As the businessmen slowly get stoned

Yes they're sharing a drink they call loneliness

But it's better than drinking alone

Sing us a song you're the piano man

Sing us a song tonight

Well we're all in the mood for a melody

And you've got us feeling alright.”

Suddenly, Undyne stopped and flipped around. She sneered at you.

“What do you-”

“Can you keep playing?” You asked quietly. “I really like that song…” You weren’t sure what you looked like, but she seemed to take pity on you because she slowly turned back around and continued the song.

“It's a pretty good crowd for a Saturday

And the manager gives me a smile

'Cause he knows that it's me they've been coming to see

To forget about life for a while

And the piano it sounds like a carnival

And the microphone smells like a beer

And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar

And say, “Man what are you doing here?”

Sing us a song you're the piano man

Sing us a song tonight

Well we're all in the mood for a melody

And you've got us feeling alright”

Undyne slide over on the piano bench and patted the space beside her. You moved forward slowly and sat down.

She didn’t look at you, just stared at the keys of the piano. “I figured you had come to laugh at me, but… you looked and sounded really… out of it.”

You turned to her. “Why would I laugh at you?”

“Frisk hasn’t told you?” She spat bitterly.

“I haven’t seen them all day, they’re actually who I came to find.”

“Well we burned my house down.”

Your eyes widened and you gripped Undyne, turning her to face you. “What?! What do you mean burned down?! Where is Frisk?!?! Are they okay?!?!”

Undyne blinked at you, shocked for a second. “Yeah, they headed back to Snowdin to find you.” She said quietly. “I was gonna go with them but… I needed to calm down and process.”

You let go of her and moved back a bit. “Sorry,” you muttered.

She took a deep breath before burying her head in her hands. “NGAH! My life is so messed right now.”

“I feel that,” you muttered, unsure if she heard you. You figured since she didn’t react she hadn't.

“My house is in ruins, I can barely talk to Alphys, and I couldn’t kill two lousy humans!”

You ignored the “lousy humans” part. “So you like Alphys,” you said, a grin creeping across your face. Undyne looked up from her hands, blushing.

“It’s not- I just- She’s really-”

“Oh man,” you laughed. “You REALLY like Alphys!”

She glared at you, cheeks very red. “Don’t think Frisk didn’t tell me about your main flame.”

You could feel your cheeks heating up and Undyne began to cackle. “I’m gonna kill that kid.” You muttered.

“Hey,” Undyne said, wiping a tear from her eye, “Pretty sure that’s my job.” You chuckled in spite of yourself and Undyne grinned in triumph. “Okay, so I won’t tell Grillby if you don’t tell Alphys.”

“Deal,” you said a little too quickly.

“Wow, you REALLY like Grillby.”

“Shut up.” You muttered, going red. “At least you have a chance with Alphys.”

“Hey. Frisk seems to think you two are made for each other.”

“Yeah well, they are just a kid.”

“Maybe,” Undyne mused. “I think they know what they’re talking about though. They told me I should write Alphys a letter to let her know how I feel, it might be easier than saying it out loud.”

“That’s actually a pretty good idea.” You muttered.

“Maybe you should to the same thing.” Undyne offered.

“What?! No! I couldn’t do that!”

“Well why not?” She said. “Frisk says he really likes you. Ask him out!”

You tried to turn it around. “What about you and Alphys, why haven’t you asked her out yet?”

Undyne blushed again. “I’ve tried to bring it up, but everytime I- NGAH! Whatever, don’t change the subject!”

Well, you supposed that had been worth a shot. “Fine. I don’t think he thinks of me the same way. And I mean, I’m human! Would he really want to date someone like me. Not to mention he’s so much older!”

“Dude,” Undyne said, “None of that matters if you love him.”

“Oh my god!” You groaned, burying your head in your hands. “You sound like Frisk!”

“Seriously, though.” She continued. “What are you really worried about?”

That you would just cause him more trouble? Yeah. But, also that he didn’t like you, or that he did, and then you’d be faced with an actual relationship. You weren’t sure which was worse.

Add you didn’t know how to explain that.

Not in words anyways.

“Move over.” You said sliding to the middle of the piano.

“I stick with real things, 

Usually facts and figures.

When information's in its place,

I minimize the guessing game.

Guess what? 

I don't like guessing games.

Or when I feel things,

Before I know the feelings.

How am I supposed to operate, 

If I'm just tossed around by fate?

Like on an unexpected date?

The stranger who might talk too fast, 

Or ask me questions about myself,

Before I've decided that,

He can ask me questions about myself.

He might sit too close.

Or call the waiter by his first name,

Or eat Oreos,

But eat the cookie before the cream?

But what scares me the most,

what scares me the most,

Is what if when he sees me, what if he doesn't like it?

What if he runs the other way and I can't hide from it?

What happens then?

If when he knows me, he's only disappointed?

What if I give myself away, to only get it given back?

I couldn't live with that.

So, I'm just fine, inside my shell-shaped mind.

This way I get the best view.

So, when he sees me, I want him to.

I'm not defensive.

I'm simply being cautious.

I can't risk reckless dating,

Due to my miscalculating. 

While a certain suitor stands in line,

I've seen in movies,

Most made for television,

You cannot be too careful,

When it comes to sharing your life.

I could end up a miserable wife.

He could be criminal, some sort of psychopath 

who escaped from an institution, 

somewhere where they don't have girls.

He could have masterminded some way to find me.

He could be colorblind.

How untrustworthy is that.

He could be less than kind.

Or even worse he could be very nice, have lovely eyes.

And make me laugh, come out of hiding.

What do I do with that?

Oh, God.

What if when he sees me,

I like him and he knows it?

What if he opens up a door,

And I can't close it?

What happens then?

If when he holds me,

My heart is set in motion,

I'm not prepared for that.

I'm scared of breaking open.

But still I can't help from hoping,

To find someone to talk to,

Who likes the way I am.

Someone who when he sees me,

Wants to again.”

“Dude,” Undyne muttered. “It’s really not that complicated.”

You didn’t have the energy to argue over that now. You sighed and slumped over as Undyne pulled out her phone. She jumped up from the bench.

“Papyrus is looking for me. I guess I should get going. Hey, good talk.”

She was gone before you could reply.

You supposed you could go back to Grillby’s, Frisk would probably be there, but you couldn’t bring yourself to walk that far. You headed farther into Waterfall slowly. Past the statue and umbrellas but you didn’t grab one. You kept walking until you slipped in a puddle. It was late in the day now and you were so tired. You should have eaten something, or called someone. But, did any of them really want to hear from you? You were just a nuisance to them, especially Grillby. You felt a lump in your throat but you couldn’t tell if you were crying or if was just the rain. 

Grillby, what if it was too late. What if he liked you already? All of these monsters cared about you so much, but you didn’t understand. You didn’t deserve it. Humans didn’t deserve it. And if they knew what you had done, that you had damned a soul, that you felt the last remaining life force of a being disintegrate. That you had totally destroyed that soul, erasing it from existence. They would hate you, they would see what you really were. What you were willing to do. There was no way you would drag Grillby into that mess. He deserved better than that.

He deserved better than you.

You would go to Hotland, go through the CORE, and leave them. Then they’d never have to worry about you again.

But, you couldn’t even bring yourself to stand. You were so tired.

So, so tired.

You fell asleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basically. You wake up curled up with Grillby and he gets so flustered he uses his elemental language. Frisk thinks that you two are perfect together and you should just share your feelings but that's not happening. You don't get a chance to talk about it and you begin to feel that he would be better off without you in his life.  
> The next few days just see you getting worse and feeling awful about how much they care about you, thinking that you don't deserve this attention and care.  
> A few days later you wake up without Frisk there and end up snapping at Grillby, which you then apologize for. He's worried about you and the chapter goes to his perspective commenting on he he's shared so much about himself but you haven't shared much about you at all.  
> You head through waterfall until you end up at the piano and run into Undyne. The two of you discuss your crushes and she also thinks you're making it harder than it needs to be. When she leaves you continue walking until you fall in a puddle. Feeling horrible about who you are and what you've done (damning souls) you decide that when you get up you'll leave the underground and none of them will ever have to worry about you again. But, with no energy left, and being so tired, you fall asleep.


	13. Chapter 12: Don’t Give Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wake up, but you aren't in Waterfall.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this one's a bit shorter. It was gonna be longer, but I decided to space the stuff out a bit more so what was gonna be chapter 12 is probably gonna be chapters 12, 13, and maybe 14.
> 
> For this chapter you're gonna need https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ZVIAbDr_w
> 
> Also there is more negative self talk in this one, but not to the same extent. There's a lot more confusion than anything.

Your head was aching.

Really your whole body was aching, but your head was the worst, both in pain and feeling stuffy. For a few minutes you laid still, enjoying that whatever was underneath you was at least comfortable, until you remembered where you had fallen asleep.

You sat up quickly and laid back down faster, holding your head that had started pounding. You were pretty sure you had cried last night, and yeah you had fallen asleep on hard rock, but should your head be hurting this much?

Something bright moved closer to you. You felt Grillby’s hands rest gently on your shoulders but you rolled onto your side away from him, keeping your eyes closed. His hands moved back but you could feel him still sitting on the bed. Grillby said your name softly. You didn’t respond. He said it again.

“What?” You muttered.

“Do you… not want me to heal you?”

You debated on shaking your head but decided talking would hurt less. “No.”

“… why not?”

“I’m fine. I don’t need your help.”

Grillby was quiet for a moment. When he did speak he said only your name, searching for words. You could hear the hurt in his voice.

“Just… go, okay? Leave me alone.”

Grillby reluctantly got up off the bed. He moved to the doorway and stopped. “I’ll be… around, if you need anything.” 

You heard the door close behind him.

You sighed and rolled onto your back. With Grillby out of the room it wasn’t too bright and you could open your eyes. You stared up at the ceiling, thinking, feeling your your heart breaking. You hated treating Grillby like that, on top of everything now you were being downright mean, and you knew it.

But… If you could just convince him you didn't care. If you could just get him to think that you hated this place and you wanted to leave and go home maybe he would stop. Stop caring, stop being so nice, stop doing you favours that you couldn’t repay. You felt awful for treating him so badly, but you felt worse knowing you could never make it up to him for everything he’d done for you. At the very least you could stop taking favours from him, you could be independent, you could make your way to the capital yourself and take on Asgore.You might not survive, but did that really matter? If you lost, if you died, the monsters would have their seven souls, and then some. They would have everything they’d been working for. You would no longer be standing in the way of everyone’s hopes and dreams.

Maybe giving yourself up was the answer. Maybe that was what you had been doing down here all along. You weren’t sure if it was your purpose but releasing the monsters seemed to be a pretty good reason to die, a pretty noble thing to do.

At least then you’d be good for something.

You sat up again, determined to get to the capital, but your head forced you to fall back into the bed. You breathed deeply until the pounding subsided. It seemed, at least for now, you were stuck. There was no way you could travel like this.

And you were so tired.

And the bed was so comfy.

You fell asleep.

 

You woke up with no headache, so that was good, but your head still felt stuffy and your stomach was queasy. You sat up slowly but had to lie back down to avoid puking all over the bed. A worried looking Frisk rushed over to the bed.

“You’re awake!”

“And you’re talking,” You mumbled, your voice raspy.

“Grillby’s at the bar, the only other person in the apartment is Sans.” They said climbing onto the bed and sitting beside you with a plate in their hands.

“He… left?” you asked slowly.

“Yeah, he said you didn’t want to see him, so I waited for you to wake up.” For the first time since you’d woken up, you really looked at Frisk. Their body was slumped and there were very dark circles under their eyes. Their hair was more unkempt and messy than usual, and they looked like they hadn’t slept in days.

“Frisk, how long have you been awake?”

They shrugged. “A long time, I dunno, more than a day.”

“Geez, Frisk!” you exclaimed. “You can’t do that.”

“And you can just run away?!” They almost yelled at you.

You began looking for an explanation. “Frisk, I-I-I, that was-”

“No!” they yelled. “No! You don’t get to just waltz into and out of my life as you please! You don’t get to just up and disappear like no one will care! What, did you think no one would look for you?! Did you really think we would let you just leave?! Do you really not care that much!?” They began to sob. “Do you really not care about me?”

“Frisk, I-” but they had already gone running out of the room, leaving the plate of food behind. 

You sunk back into the bed, taking a deep breath. You hadn’t expected that. Truthfully you hadn’t expected anyone to care. Well, maybe you thought they’d care a bit, but you hadn’t expected Frisk to be so upset.

You brought the plate up onto your lap and searched through the food. It was mostly fruit so you began munching away at it. Your stomach still felt sick, but you figured some food would do you good. You were beginning to feel dizzy even lying down.

Thoughts were whizzing through your head. You felt awful about worrying everyone. You had told them you could handle yourself but they still seemed to think you needed help. You just wanted everyone to stop caring so much. But you couldn’t bare to shut Frisk out, could you? You didn’t want to shut Grillby out either, but he had done too much for you, you couldn’t accept more help from him.

Could you?

Was it really right of you to totally push him away? Was that fair of you? Or did it make you a worse person than you already were? You put your head in your hands, confused and upset. You didn’t know what to believe, what to do, or which course of action made you a worse person. You could feel tears streaming down your face.

You could feel a strange electricity in the air.

You looked up to see a startled looking Sans, the blue light fading from his right eye, the pupils returning to normal. You sniffled and looked away from him.

“Hey kiddo,” he said softly.

“Go away.” you muttered harshly.

“Hey,” he said sternly entering the room, the door shutting behind him. “That may work on on Grillby, and even Frisk, but I know first hand that you don’t really mean that.”

“Yes. I do.”

“Nah,” he replied, taking a seat on the bed. “You’re just trying to push everyone away in an attempt to make them stop caring about you.”

You looked up at him. “How did you know that?”

He shrugged. “You’re not the only one who’s thought it was better if people didn’t care about them.”

You were silent for a moment. 

“Yeah but it’s-”

“Different with you, right?” You just stared at him.”Except it really isn’t. Do you really think a person as nice as you can just start being mean and people will just go with it? At least I’m already an asshole half the time so it was believable. But you, if you start being rude everyone will know something is up. No one is going to decide that because you’ve been off for a few days that you aren't worth caring about. Even if some people don’t want to deal with it there will always be someone there for you.”

“You don-”

“Understand?”

“Dude,” you muttered, “Get out of my head.”

“And you’re trying to tell me I don’t understand you. Look, I know what it feels like to have no hope. I know what it’s like to want everyone to stop caring, it makes it easier to…” He trailed off.

“Grillby told me I was making everything harder.” you mumbled.

“Kiddo, you make him feel more strongly, that ain’t a bad thing.”

“But what if he can’t handle it! I told him he can but what if he can’t! What if he gets hurt?! It will be my fault. He was fine until I showed up and I’ve taking up so much of his time and attention and energy! He’s worked so hard and been through so much, what if I ruin all of that?! He can’t care about me, it’s too much!”

“For him? Or for you?”

You stared at Sans with your mouth hanging open, no answer forming in your head, and Sans smiled.

“Bingo.” He muttered. “You’re really worried about your feelings aren’t you?”

You could feel your face heating up. You expected Sans to make fun of you but he seemed to know now wasn’t the time.

“Look, kiddo, I’ve known Grillby for a long time now. He did work real hard to get his rage under control but keep in mind he’s had it under control for hundreds of years now. He’s still afraid of what he became and he never wants to be that again, but one person making him loosen up won’t cause him to relapse back into his destructive temper tantrums. Yes, he has to control his anger, but you make him come alive. I’ve never seen the guy so happy and full of life. I know you think you bring out the worst in him, but take it from someone who knows, you really bring out the best.”

“And as for your feelings-”

“We don’t have to talk about that.” You muttered.

“Yeah, we do. I know you care about him a lot, and I know you’re scared, but give it chance.”

“Look,” you said fiercely, suddenly finding your voice. “You may understand my depression, but you don’t understand my feelings for Grillby!”

“Maybe you’re right,” he said, eyeing you out the corner of his eye socket. “But I do understand Grillby’s feelings for you.”

You weren’t sure what face you were making but Sans seemed to find what he was looking for because he gave you a smug grin. You stuck your tongue out at him, he chuckled. “I’m betting you’re partly afraid of rejection, but you’re more afraid that he’ll like you back and you’ll be forced to deal with reality, not to mention the fact that you’ve been making yourself feel guilty about being anywhere near him. So if you did date him you’d have to acknowledge that you’re being selfish. Or that you’re being a bad person by causing him difficulties. I can tell you you aren’t selfish, but why should you listen to me.” He got up off the bed and headed for the door. He was in the door frame before he spoke. “But… If both people really want it, how selfish can it be?”

You blinked, and Sans was gone.

You let out a prolonged sigh and put your head in your hands. If you had been confused before you had no idea what to think now. Did Grillby really want to be with you? Could he handle his anger? You would never forgive yourself if he totally lost control of himself. But, Sans had known him for a long time now, so wouldn’t he know what he was talking about? Was he right about how much people cared? You didn’t even know who had found you or how you had gotten to Grillby’s but someone seemed to care, maybe more than one someone. And if Sans was right, and you had a sinking feeling he was, that wasn’t changing anytime soon. So, where did that leave you?

You weren’t sure.

Even though you still felt queasy you couldn’t sit still anymore. You got out of bed and paced around the room trying to think everything through, but you just kept going in circles. Sans knew Grillby would be okay and he seemed to think that Grillby wanted to be with you, but what if Sans was wrong and Grillby lost control, you wouldn’t be able to handle that. And so what if you had feelings for him, it couldn’t be fair to drag him into this. But you needed to talk to someone and he had already shared so much of himself.

You collapsed back on the bedroom, exhausted physically and mentally. You were starting to think you might have some sort of cold with how sick you were feeling. Your head was still stuffy and you still felt like you might throw up. After a few minutes you feel back asleep.

You awoke to rustling sounds rolled over in bed to see Grillby leaving a plate of food at the bedside. He stopped when you turned over and his flames grew dimmer and faster. Was he, afraid?

“Hey,” you mumbled.

He started at you for a moment before nodding at you and turning to leave. You sat up.

“Hey, wait a minute, I-” But when he turned around you lost your voice. His eyes may have been hidden behind his glasses, but you could still read his expression. He looked sad and worried, probably because you had caught him bringing you food. He just wanted you to eat something. He knew humans weren’t supposed to go this long without real meals. But he looked so tired. Like he hadn’t slept properly since you had left, or maybe since you had started acting differently.

You cared about him. You really cared about him. And pushing him away was worse than keeping him in your life. Looking at him now that was clear.

In that moment you wanted to tell him everything. You wanted to share every detail with him, so that he would know how you felt, how you had been feeling. So that he could help you like he so wanted to.

But no matter how hard you tried, no words came out.

Grillby turned and walked across the room, making it to the doorway.

You took a deep breath and started in little more than a whisper.

 

“Cold as ice

And more bitter than a december

Winter night

That's how I treated you,”

Grillby paused, listening.

“And I know that I

I sometimes tend to lose my temper

And I cross the line

Yeah that's the truth

I know it gets hard sometimes

But I could never

Leave your side

No matter what I say

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,

But I really need you near me to

Keep my mind off the edge

If I wanted to leave I would have left by now

But you're the only one that knows me

Better than I know myself

All along

I tried to pretend it didn't matter

If I was alone

But deep down I know

If you were gone

For even a day I wouldn't know which way to turn

Cause I'm lost without you

I know it gets hard sometimes

But I could never

Leave your side

No matter what I say

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,

But I really need you near me to

Keep my mind off the edge

If I wanted to leave I would have left by now

But you're the only one that knows me

Better than I know myself

I get kind of dark

Let it go too far

I can be obnoxious at times

But try and see my heart

Cause I need you now

So don't let me down

You're the only thing in this world

I would die without

Cause if I wanted to go I would have gone by now,

But I really need you near me to

Keep my mind off the edge

If I wanted to leave I would have left by now

But you're the only one that knows me

Better than I know myself”

 

Grillby stood in the doorframe a long time.

You thought for a second you could see steam rising from his eyes but then he turned and walked down the hallway.

A moment later you heard his bedroom door close softly.


	14. Chapter 13: Determination

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to talk it out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit I did not expect this too take so long but between practicum, and lesson planning I didn't have much time to write. Not to mention that there was just soo much for this chapter it was a bitch to write.  
> Either way you have it now so I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> Also just a heads up more negative self-talk and a mention of vomiting, it isn't graphic but a character does throw up a few times so just a warning.

You stared at the empty doorframe for longer than you’d like to admit. Part of you expected him to come back in and start talking to you, like nothing have ever happened, but he probably needed time to process. You finally felt like sharing things with him, everything really. And it occurred to you now that he had probably wanted to know before. He always wanted to help you after all. He’d asked you what was wrong, he’d seen through your act, trying to convince everyone that you were fine. It had worked on Frisk and Papyrus, and maybe even Sans though you were never sure about him, but Grillby didn’t believe it for a second.

You picked at your food for a little while, but you were too tired, upset, and sick to eat anything. You laid back on the bed and soon fell asleep.

You didn’t feel any better when you woke up, though you checked your phone and it was morning. You’d spent the last few days in this room and you supposed that you should get up and do something, or shower, or properly eat, though even the thought of that made you want to throw up, but you just couldn’t bring yourself to move. This room was the safest place, if you left this room you’d have to confront everything. Everything you had been thinking, everything you had done.

You curled up on the bed, tears stinging at your eyes. After every other confusing thing you were trying to sort out this realization that you should have let Grillby in long before now was the last thing you needed. Grillby wanted you to tell him what was going on, he wanted you to share your issues so he could help. You wanted to tell him, you really did, but… 

Despite you trying to hold them back your tears were spilling over. He didn’t know what he was getting himself into. This wasn’t the first time you’d dealt with depression and you doubted it would be the last. It came back, seeping into your mind one thought at a time until the only thing you knew was how much you hated yourself, how much of a drain you were on everyone around you. Grillby knew you had problems, after that little stunt you’d pulled falling asleep in Waterfall that would be apparent to anyone. But he didn’t understand what was really going on, how big the problem was, and how deeply it was rooted. Could you honestly tell him that? And that didn’t even get into the anxiety, how much you worried or freaked out about the smallest things. You would start to feel sick for seemingly no reason and suddenly even being in the same room as other people put you on edge. You would spend hours on the edge of a panic attack that had no visible or tangible cause. How could you explain that to him?

And how could you explain how he fixed that? How he calmed you down just with his warm presence. Around him, you barely worried. He made you feel so calm and clear-headed. It didn’t make the anxiety disappear completely, but it did allow you to think through things logically so that when he wasn’t around you had a plan that you could follow without worrying about the worry.

Your tears turned into sobs, and then there was the matter of your souls on top of all of that. On top everything else there was that small fact that you could destroy souls. That wasn’t even supposed to be possible. Souls weren’t meant to be destroyed, they were meant to be sent to one place or another, the demons were never supposed to leave hell. And so you existed, the only creature that could completely destroy a soul forever, something that shouldn’t even be possible. It was painful and tiring, and you could hear the screams that the demon made as it was burned, the horrible screams that haunted your nightmares so often. 

The nightmares were another thing. You had no idea what you did when you were asleep. You could hurt someone if they came in the room. Though you had never had a nightmare when someone else was in the room you had had them a lot more frequently since falling down here. You were starting to wonder if there was some sort of reason for that. You had dismissed it before, but maybe there was some problem you should be addressing.

That would be fucking great.

You curled your body inward more, sobbing violently and going around the circle in your head. You couldn’t involve Grillby, you had to, you couldn’t, you had to. You no longer knew what to think, which answer was the right answer, which answer was the worse answer, what was the high road? Did it even matter? Should it matter what Grillby wanted? Did he know what he was getting himself into? Your head was starting to hurt, though from the thinking or the crying, you’d never know.

You weren’t sure how long you were curled up crying, but it felt like an eternity. Your tear began to slow when you felt small arms wrap around your torso. You looked up, started to see Frisk curled up against you, shaking.

“Hey, little one…” You muttered in a gravelly voice. Frisk just continued to cry. You sat up and they clung onto you, ending up in your lap. “You’re not okay, huh?” Frisk shook their head. “And you can’t explain it right now?” They shook their head again. “Can I guess what it’s about?”

Frisk seemed to think for a second and then nodded, still crying.

“Okay,” You replied, taking a deep breath. “Does it have to do with me?” Frisk nodded slowly.

“Frisk, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have taken off without telling you what was happening. I should have told you where I was going or what I was thinking or…” Your voice broke as you began to sob. Even so, you tried to continued, “I’m not thinking straight… I shouldn’t have… It wasn’t fair… I’m so sorry.”

You were never sure how long you and Frisk laid in the bed sobbing, but after what felt like a lifetime a boney hand placed itself gently on your shoulder. You sniffled and looked up to see Sans smiling at you gently. 

Frisk looked up too and he glanced at them. “What happened, kiddo? I thought you were coming to get her.”

Frisk sat up, wiping tears from their face.  _ “I was, but she was crying and I didn’t know how to get her attention or make her stop. I got so frustrated and I’m so tired I started crying. I’m sorry.” _ Frisk eyes were starting to water again.

“Oh, hey, it’s alright kid, I ain’t angry, just concerned.” He said ruffling their hair. Frisk reached for him and he picked them up. He looked at you. “We decided it was time to come and get you. You’ve been in this room for three days and you really need to get up and talk about what’s going on.”

You sat up, intending to reply, but were hit with a sudden wave of nausea and you took off out of the bed and bolted for the bathroom. You made just in time to throw up in the toilet, and not all over yourself. Sans, and Frisk hurried into the room. Grillby came in a moment later and almost bowled them over in the process. You threw up again into the toilet bowl, then sat back on the cool tile. It felt so nice against your burning skin. Grillby made a quiet hissing sound. You didn’t think anything of it until Sans began making strange computerized noises in response. You stared at them curiously.

“Are you two, is tha-” you began but you felt another wave of nausea and you flipped around to throw up again. You threw up two more times before you felt as if there was nothing left in your stomach to throw up. You laid down on the tiles and sighed.

Grillby cleared his throat and you glanced at him tiredly. “Your b-body temperature is elevated.” He said, stumbling over his words. “I’m not sure what that means but it could-”

“Have something to do with the vomiting? Yeah, it does. I’ve somehow managed to get the flu.” Sans and Grillby gave you confused stares. “Do you guys not get the flu?”

“Our bodies are just extensions of our souls kiddo. We can’t get physical illnesses.” Sans replied.

Grillby nodded tentatively, “There are things that affect us, soul exhaustion being the primary one, and some of us are more susceptible to emotional issues but we don’t get… the flu…” He trailed off, looking unsure.

You groaned. “Well, regardless of what you know about influenza the fact of the matter is that I’m pretty much stuck here until I’m better.” Somehow that felt like it would be worse for you than for them. You tilted your head to look at Grillby. “Hey, can’t you heal me?”

Grillby began to blush furiously blue, Sans muttered something to Frisk and the two of them disappeared around the corner while Grillby sputtered and stumbled over words.

“I-I-I w-well, it’s th-that, I-I mean-”

“Hold on,” You said, slowly “Did you try to heal me after I told you not to?”

Grillby shrunk, his flames growing dim and impossibly fast. 

“I can’t believe you! I told you to leave me alone, I told you I would be fine why didn’t you trust me?!”

His voice was barely more than a whisper. “You were so sick, I just thought I could help…”

“After I told you not to heal me, you went ahead with it anyway.”

“Well it didn’t work.” he mumbled quietly. You were sure you weren’t supposed to hear that, but you did.

“What?”

He looked up at you, startled. “I-I tried to heal you. But… your body resisted. It seems I can’t heal a human with low determination…”

You sat up slowly and didn’t throw up, so that was good. “Wait, it didn’t work? And can you see determination?”

Grillby sat on the floor in the corner. “I can’t but Sans can, it does take some effort though. He informed me when he brought you here that you had almost no determination left. While it’s dangerous for monsters to have determination it’s dangerous for humans to go without it. It’s your willpower, your will to live, without it…”

You shifted uncomfortably, inspecting the floor tiles intensely.

“Was that what you were doing out there, when you didn’t come back?”

You didn’t answer. You couldn’t answer. You had decided to go to the capital alone. You would have sacrificed yourself, gladly.

“I see.” He muttered.

Silence.

“There’s… a lot I should tell you.” You said.

He looked up at you, you could see hopefulness in his face. “Oh?”

“Yeah, I just, don’t know how to say it. Or how to explain it. There’s been so much running through my head since we talked, since you told me… anyway.” You sniffled. “I just, I feel so guilty about the trouble I’m causing you. I feel so awful! Sans said you’re fine, that you can handle this but what if you can’t!” The tears in your eyes began to spill over. Everything you had been bottling up over the past week was coming out. “What if you get hurt because of me!? I’m taking up so much of your time and energy! What if I just put too much strain on you! You’ve given me so much and all I’ve done is make your life harder! And you care about me! You all care about me and you shouldn’t! You can’t! I’m not worth it! I’ve-”

Grillby practically tackled you with a hug. You hadn't noticed the bathroom filling with steam but it had and you realized Grillby was crying. He held you tightly as you broke down into sobs, clinging to him. You sat like that on the bathroom floor for a very long time, you couldn’t say how long but you were stiff from sitting on the hard tile by the time you stopped crying. Grillby helped you to your feet and made sure you could support yourself before letting you go. 

You were still sniffling and you couldn’t really figure out what to say. “I’m gonna take a shower.” You said in a raspy voice. Grillby nodded and left the room quietly, closing the door behind him. You got into the shower and turned the tap, letting the hot water pour over your body. You stayed in the shower for a long time. Throwing up so much had made you feel gross so it was nice to clean your body. You scrubbed your skin, realizing how dirty you felt after the last few days. 

When you stepped out your dirty clothes were gone and in their place was a pair of sweats and a large t-shirt. You picked up the cloths and were surprised to find them warm, Grillby must have warmed them for you. You smiled in spite of yourself, the last time he had done this was weeks ago, when you’d first arrived. He had been so flustered when you’d called him out on it too. You sighed, wishing it could be that simple again. But you’d gone and messed that up.

Good fucking job.

You sighed as you left the bathroom feeling a little dizzy. That made sense since you hadn’t eaten much in the last few days. But as you made your way toward the living room the dizziness increased until your vision began to blur. You could see Grillby moving toward you, you felt like you were going to throw up. You turned back toward the bathroom.

There was light behind your eyelids. You twisted and realized you were being held up by something.

“Where am I?” you mumbled, disoriented.

“In my apartment, pl-”

“What happened?”

“I-I don’t know! I’ve never seen a human do that!”

You slowly opened your eyes to see a very frightened Grillby holding you up. It took you a few more seconds to piece together what had just happened. You slowly straightened up, but kept a hold on Grillby, just in case. You motioned toward the kitchen table and helped you across the room and into a chair. You relaxed back into the seat.

“I fainted, I think.” You explained wearily. “I’ve done it before, but it’s been a long time.”

“Should I get you something? Do you need anything? Is this serious?! What shou-” You cut him off. Grillby was pacing in front of you nervously, his flames flickering quickly. You’d never seen him so frazzled.

You wondered what he’d looked like when you’d gone missing.

“It’s fine, it isn’t serious. It can happen if there isn’t enough sugar in our blood. The body can’t function so it shuts down momentarily. I just need to eat.”

His flames relaxed a little, though he was still pacing. “Can you eat?”

“Well I’m not feeling as sick as I was so hopefully. Maybe just some fruit or-?”

Grillby didn’t wait for you to finish the thought. He was gone into the kitchen and back with a plate of fruit so fast you wondered if he’d already had it prepared. You munched on some of the fruit until you began to feel ill again and stopped, glancing into the living room.

“A blanket fort, huh?”

“It was Frisk’s idea.” Grillby admitted. “They thought it might help you.” You smiled at the fort, and then frowned. Frisk. You’d upset them so much, you needed to apologize. You got up too quickly and ended up on the floor. Grillby called out your name in alarm.

“I'm fine,” You called up. “Just stood up too fast.”

“Humans are so fragile.” Grillby mumbled while he helped you up. “Where were you going?”

“To find Frisk.” You replied. “I really need to talk to them.” You slumped your shoulders, “I really need to talk to a lot of you guys.” You started to feel sicker, though not because of the flu.

“Well I don’t think you should leave right now. They’ll be back soon I’m sure.” He said, though you suspected he just couldn’t bare the thought of you leaving his sight.

“Yeah,” you sighed, heading into the living room and crawling into the fort. “Will you join me Grillby?”

You heard his crackling chuckle, “I’d love to.” He replied crawling in and sitting next to you. “So.”

“So.” You took a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I took off without telling anyone. I’m sorry I’ve caused so many problems.” Pause. “I’m sorry that I’ve caused you to care about me so much.”

Grillby took a deep breath that he probably didn’t need. “I’ll admit I was upset that you hadn’t told anyone but I’m just glad that you’re safe. I know there’s more going on here than you’ve told me, but I won’t force you to say more than you wish to.”

There was a lump in your throat. “Thank you,” you choked out. “But, I need to talk to you. I… need to talk to someone.”

“I’ve been dealing with… depression.” You looked up, Grillby had taken off his glasses, a look of confusion on his face. “I-It’s a human disease. It affects the brain; the part of us that thinks and feels. People can have a number of different symptoms, and not everyone has all of them, but I get tired and lethargic, I feel like I’m a burden on everyone around me. I feel like the people around me have given me too much and I’ve given them too little. The guilt is overbearing and crushing and it makes me hate myself. I feel like everything would be better if I were dead.”

The last word hung in the silence as you sat in shock of your own words. You had thought it before, but never had you said it out loud. You had thought everyone would be happier if you were dead. The last few days proved that wasn’t true. If you had gone to the capital everything would be worse, at least for the people you knew down here, not to mention the life waiting for you across the barrier. The realization hit you like a truck.

You didn’t want to die.

You started to giggled, and then laugh, which turned into hysterics.You wanted to live, you really wanted to live. Maybe there wasn’t much to live for but there was something. And something was enough for you. You weren’t sure how long the euphoric feeling would last so you savoured it, giggling like an idiot. 

Grillby sat across from you, terrified. He wasn’t sure what was happening or why you were laughing but it made him wonder if he should worry about you even more. He wasn’t sure he could handle anything else going wrong with you. He was already incredibly anxious and worried and one more thing might make him fall apart. He hating feeling this much.

Well, that wasn’t true. He felt alive, he felt more, but the negatives had intensified too. He was more worried, more angry. But…

All of that meant he could love so much more.

As you calmed down from you laughing fit you caught Grillby’s expression. “Oh, sorry,” you said, wiping away tears. “I just… I realized something.”

He gave you a stare, “Oh?”

“I realized that I don’t want to die.” You couldn’t hide the smile that was taking over your face. Grillby noticed it, it was infectious and his soul pulsed quickly, like a heartbeat, faster than it had in a very long time. He could feel his face heating up.

You looked up at him. “Are you blushing?” You asked.

“Most likely,” he mumbled, seeming dazed. You wonder if all the stress you’d put him through was getting to him.

“It was wrong of me to run off.” You said, looking at your feet. “I just felt awful, like I was putting too much stress on you. I’m still worried. Worried that I’ll cause you to lose control…”

“I can control it,” He mumbled. “I know I can, even if I haven’t exactly proven it. You caught me by surprise, but that doesn’t mean you’re a bad influence.” Pause. “I couldn’t imagine what it would be like if I lost you…”

You looked up at him, “Really?”

He gave you a startled look. “Of course! I don’t want to make you feel worse, please don’t take this the wrong way, but I’ve been a mess the last few days; I’ve been so worried. I should have said something earlier. I knew something was wrong last week but you’ve been shutting me out this whole time. I didn’t think I could get through to you but you could have died! You got so sick! I sh-”

“Woah, hey, Grillby!” You cut him off. “This isn’t your fault. I’ve been worried about how I’m affecting you but that’s my demon to deal with, you couldn’t have stopped my depressive episode, no one could have…”

“Does it happen a lot?” The question caught you by surprise. You tried to make eye contact with him but he wouldn’t look at you.

“At times.” You replied. “Sometimes I’m okay for months, normally during the summer, sometimes I feel like this constantly. Sometimes it’s just for a few days. It’s not the only thing. I have issues with anxiety and panic attacks too.” You glanced at Grillby, who again looked confused. “Anxiety is basically worrying; but it becomes an issue when you do it so much it affects how you function. I manage it well most of the time but it’s gotten out of control in the past. Panic attacks are when you get a lot of intense anxiety all at once. You start breathing really fast, your chest starts to hurt, and sometimes you feel like you’re gonna die. It’s awful.”

“Wow.” He muttered. “That’s… a lot.”

“Yeah. I didn’t want to drop all of this on you, but you deserved an explanation. You should know what you’re dealing with if… well if you’re gonna be around me, at least for now.”

“Wait! What does that mean, for now?!”

You faltered. “A-Ah, I, well I didn’t know if you want to, I mean if we could, I dunno, break the barrier then maybe we’d all go to the surface. But I don’t know if you’d want to stay… near… me.”

“O-Of course I would! What on earth could make you think I wouldn’t!”

You sighed, frustrated. “It’s starting to sound dumb now but I don’t want to cause you any more problems. I’m so worried I’m making everything harder for you. I just figured, you might not want me around.”

Grillby was growing visibly exasperated. “I don’t know how to say this so you’ll believe me. I care about you immensely!” You watched Grillby as he began to get more heated, literally and figuratively. His flames were flickering faster and the blanket fort was getting warmer by the second. “There’s something about you that just… enraptures me! You’ve made feel more, but it’s made me feel more alive! More alive than I’ve felt in a very, very long time! I can’t stop caring about you and I never will because I love you!”

Grillby clapped his hand to his mouth.

The two you you sat there in stunned silence, processing what had just happened. Grillby’s entire head had gone blue and his flames were flickering faster than you had ever seen them go. Neither of you knew what to say.

The room filled with a familiar electricity.

You both looked toward the entrance of the fort where Frisk and Sans were peaking their heads in. 

“Woah, didn’t mean to interrupt this heated moment.” Sans joked.

“No, no, it’s fine, perfectly fine, I have errands to run and things to attend to so you can keep her company.” He said quickly. Before you had the chance to call out to him he was gone and the front door had slammed.

“God fucking dammit.” you muttered under your breath. Frisk giggled.

_ “Can we come in?” _

“Yeah, yeah.” you sighed.

“What’s up with you and Grillbz?” Sans asked, following Frisk into the fort.

“He, uh, said something that I don’t think either of us were expecting. But he’ll be okay, he just needs to process it, I think.” You hoped. Sans hummed in response and you weren’t sure if he believed you or not.

Frisk sat directly in front of you and waved at you to get your attention.  _ “I’m sorry for yelling at you. I was mad at you for leaving. I thought it meant you didn’t care about me anymore. But Sans explained to me that it wasn’t about me, that you’re really sad and scared right now. He said you made a bad decision when you weren’t thinking straight.”  _ Frisk sniffled.  _ “And now you have the flu too and there I was treating you badly.” _

“Hey, hey, no Frisk… oh c’mere.” You pulled Frisk into your lap as they began to cry. Sans mumbled something that you couldn’t quite make out. Then you blinked and he was gone.

“He’s probably gone to get Grillby.” Frisk mumbled.

“Well either way it gives us a little time to talk. Frisk, you don’t have to apologize. I never should have taken off without telling you. Sans was right, I’ve been… really sad recently. There’s just been a lot of things stressing me out and I let myself lose sight of all the important things.”

“Like what?’ Frisk sniffed.

“Like you, little one.” You replied, hugging Frisk tightly. “You are such a special little kid. I should have told you I was feeling down and I was gonna act a little weird for a bit but I tried to hide it from everyone. That… didn’t exactly work out.”

Frisk mumbled something you couldn’t make you.

“Hmm?”

“Can you please sing me the song?”

You smiled at them.

“Close your eyes, lay your head down

Now it's time to sleep

May you find great adventure

As you lie and dream

If you're scared of the darkness

I will calm your fear

There's a light in the hallway

So you know I'm here

So count your blessings every day

It makes the monsters go away

And everything will be okay

You are not alone

You are right at home

Goodnight, goodnight

You won't need me forever

But I'll still be here

For we all have our nightmares

Even me, my dear

From now on, if you need me

You can sing this song

There's a light in the hallway

Burning all night long

So count your blessings every day

It makes the monsters go away

And everything will be okay

You are not alone

You are right at home

Goodnight, goodnight

Goodnight, goodnight”

“I’m so sorry, Frisk.”

“It’s okay. I forgive you. I just don’t like losing people.” You wondered at what that meant but decided now wasn’t the time to ask, that Frisk would tell you when they were ready, and when they felt you were too.

They paused. “Why did you leave?”

“Ahh…” How could you explain this to a child? “I, well I started feeling really guilty about how much Grillby had done for me. I felt like I couldn’t pay him back and I got really sad. I was also worried about him, a lot, all the time and it led to a lot of stress.”

“Why were you worried about him?” Frisk asked quietly.

Man, the kid was asking all the hard questions today. “I, uh, I dunno I guess I just really care about him, a lot.”

Frisk seemed to ponder that and the two of you sat there until the you heard the door open. Two people came in but only one came into the living room. Sans crawled into the fort.

“Hey kid,” Sans said, ruffling Frisk’s hair. “Grillby said he wants your help in the kitchen.” Frisk reluctantly got out of your lap and crawled toward the entrance of the fort but Sans caught them before they left and whispered something that you couldn’t make out but that made Frisk grin mischievously. They took off into the kitchen. You stared after them, than a moment later heard the whooshing of Grillby’s flames. 

You made to leave the fort while Sans chuckled, but he caught your arm. “It’s fine kiddo. Besides, we’ve got some stuff to talk about.” You begrudgingly sat back down.

“Now,” He started, closing his eye sockets. “I don’t care about a lot of people, but the few I do I care about immensely. In the past week you’ve managed to freak out and considerably worry two of those people. I know you’re going through stuff right now, but I don’t like seeing my friends hurting. Got it?” He opened his eye sockets which were black and pupil-less.

“Geez dude, don’t do that, it’s super creepy!” He blinked, and they were back to normal. “And I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I care about them too. I got really depressed but I found some more will to live so we’re good, for now.”

“Alright.” He replied simply, relaxing. “That’s good enough for me.”

“Really?” You asked, raising an eyebrow.

“‘Course.” He said. “I can see your determination and it’s not at its usual yet, but it’s definitely at a healthy level. ‘Sides, I’m too lazy to keep that creepy shit up for long.” 

You chuckled, “Fair enough I guess.”

You grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around yourself, you were starting to get a chill, as a small hand beckoned you out of the fort. You and Sans crawled out and followed Frisk to the table where Grillby had set out dinner. He seemed to be blushing and you were really starting to wonder what Sans had said to Frisk, and what Frisk had said to Grillby.

The two of them, it seemed, had set out something different for everyone. They sat you in front of a tall glass of apple cider. You stared at it, unsure, and then looked at Grillby. His flames began to flicker a little faster, nervously. He had learned some sign language but it seemed not enough to explain what was in front if you, or how you would keep it down. Frisk took up the task.

_ “It’s a special monster drink,”  _ They signed.  _ “Monsters don’t often eat solid food. A lot of them can’t so the most popular monster food is food that looks like human food but is actually energy. It will give you the nutrients you need, for the most part, and it makes you feel full without eating anything. I don’t like eating it all the time but it shouldn’t make you sick.” _

_ “What they said.”  _ Grillby signed. You chuckled.

“Well alright then, I suppose it’s worth a shot.” You lifted the glass and took a sip. The liquid traveled to the back of your throat and vanished. Yet, your stomach felt fuller, less hungry. “Incredible.” You mused. Grillby grew brighter, smiling and Frisk grinned.

Everyone sat and ate quietly until all the plates were cleaned off, every glass empty. The dinner was filled with pleasant chatter and for the first time in a week you really felt normal. Of course it occurred to you that you were eating dinner with a child, a skeleton, and a fire so nothing about this was normal.

But maybe, with your life, next to normal is what you needed.

Sans was the first to stand up. “Welp, thanks for the grub Grillbz but me and the kid should get going.” He said, taking Frisk’s hand. They seemed a little reluctant to leave you but did so anyway. Grillby waved a goodbye to them, and they were gone.

He got up quickly, clearing plates from the table and hurrying into the kitchen.You pulled the blanket tighter around you, shivering. He returned a moment later. “Well it is late, we really sho-”

“I’m c-cold.” You mumbled. He spun around to look at you and really noticed the blanket for the first time.

“O-Oh,” he faltered, unsure what to do. Your body temperature was still high, how could you be cold? You made up his mind for him, moving up to him and cuddling into him. He hesitantly wrapped his arms around you. You stood like until you felt a bit warmer, but as soon as he moved away you grew colder again. You cuddled into him again and this time he seemed to relax more, wrapping an arm around your shoulders and leading you down the hallway to your room, though when you got there you refused to go in. “It’ll be way too cold.”

“Well what do you want? To sleep with me in my bed?” He had meant it as a joke but one look at your face and he realized you had taken him seriously. He sighed and lead you to his room letting you get settled before he got into bed. As soon as he laid down you were snuggled up against and already drifting off. 

Just before falling asleep your half asleep mind made a decision.

“Grillby?” You murmured.

“Hmm?” He hummed.

“I love you, too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So my alternate title for this was "I should tell you, I should tell you..." which is a Rent reference but there is a reference to another musical in this chapter, did you find it?


	15. Chapter 14: Another Medium

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmares are a bitch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I mean, they are.

Some monsters need sleep. Those that have more physical bodies need the rest, but those that are made of mostly magic don’t need the rest to function. It’s nice, and makes them feel refreshed but it isn’t necessary.

Grillby didn’t need to sleep, and that was probably a good thing. He kept replaying the moment in his head, unable to drift off.

“Grillby?” you had mumbled, sleepily.

He had hummed in reply, not really paying attention, thinking that he might finally get a good night’s sleep, he was actually feeling tired after not get any real rest for days.

And then, in a near whisper, you said it.

“I love you,too.”

The only thing that had kept him from jumping up and probably falling out of the bed was the fact that you had fallen asleep already and he didn’t want to disturb you. Even now he knew he was shining brighter and his soul was pulsing, beating out of his chest. He wondered if you could hear it, if it would wake you up. He considered moving but figured you’d be mad if you woke up without him there. He looked over at you.

You body temperature was still high and yet you were shivering. Humans really were peculiar creatures. 

And he was in love with one.

He sighed and dropped his head into his hands. What was he doing? What if he hurt you? Really hurt you, not just a small burn but something major or life threatening? What would he do? Would that finally cause you to fear him? Would that be the thing to make you leave him? And then the depression and anxiety. Could he heal you? He hated seeing you suffer and he wanted to help. He knew every time it happened he would want to use magic to make it better but that was dangerous. He knew it would seep into your dreams, or nightmares. You’d see, hear, and maybe even smell people burning. And he knew humans could become very dependent on magic if it was used on them too often. It could be good for healing but using too much of it caused problems. Grillby knew he was being too liberal with his magic, he just wanted you to be safe, but maybe letting you heal up from this flu on your own would be good for your body.

And he’d get to spend more time with you too, though that was selfish of him. He wasn’t an idiot. He knew you wanted to go back home. You had people on the surface who cared about you, he couldn’t very well keep you to himself, no matter how much he wanted to.

But, you did love him.

Or at least he hoped you did. Could fevers make humans delusional? You were also tired. Maybe you didn’t mean it after all. Maybe he was getting all worked up over nothing. 

Or maybe your definition of love was different. Or you loved him in a different way than he loved you.

It was a good thing that Grillby didn’t need to sleep, because all night he laid awake, his mind plagued with thoughts and worries about whether or not you truly loved him.

 

The demon was in front of you, taunting you. This creature had spent the last five years tormenting your friends. It had killed Buds’ sister. It had gone after all of you and now it’s twisted soul was staring out of the eyes of your best friend. Never before had you wanted to destroy something so badly in your life. 

“And what are you gonna do?” They said in your friend’s voice. You felt sick. “What power could you possibly have? The other four couldn’t stop me or my partner. What makes you special?”

You stuck out your arm. “This.” You replied, squeezing your fist. The demon began to choke and smoke began to curl out of your friend’s mouth. You could see the fear in the demon’s eyes, you could hear it scream in pain, you could feel the pounding headache.

You could smell the burning flesh.

Wait.

You blinked and no longer recognized where you were. The headache had gotten worse. There was a village on fire and people screaming. You could smell the foul scent of skin burning off of bones.

 

You sat up suddenly, only vaguely aware that the scream echoing off the walls had come from you. The bed was shaking, everything in the room was flying around, you hugged yourself, trying to relax and calm yourself down. It was okay. Nothing was burning, nothing was being destroyed. You were safe.

At Grillby’s.

You looked around rapidly until you caught the look on Grillby’s face. He was terrified and when you turned towards him (with your black eyes no less) he jumped back covering his face and trembling slightly. Your heart dropped into your stomach. He was afraid of you, really afraid of you. He had spent so much time thinking he was the monster and all along it was you.

Your heart was beating incredibly fast and your breaths were short. You could feel a headache coming on as you attempted to unsynthesize your souls, but as it turned out they were tired of being cooped up and weren’t about to separated easily.

You tore out of the bedroom and locked yourself in the bathroom, gripping your head. You hadn’t had a headache like this in almost two months.

“Stop trying to unsynthesize, they need to be together for a bit. You’re putting too much pressure on them.”

“Buds?” You called out, unable to open your eyes. It was so bright.

“Just relax and use your powers for a bit. Otherwise it will get worse and you’ll lose control.”

Well you didn’t want that. And Buds was usually right about this sort of stuff. You struggled up off the floor and turned on the shower, still supporting yourself on the door frame, the pressure in your head relieved a bit. You took a shower, moving things around the room until the headache was just a dull throbbing. As you got dressed Buds spoke up again.

“Now that that’s out of the way where the fuck are you?!? We’ve all been worried sick! Not to mention your friends and family! You haven’t even tried to contact me! And you’re never together long enough for me to contact you! Do you ha-”

“Trust me Buds,” You cut her off. “I would love to tell you, but it’s gonna have to wait a little longer. I’m sort of… stuck at the moment.”

“Stuck? Where? How could you be stuck?”

“Let’s just say that there’s some truth behind the rumours about Mt. Ebott.” You muttered.

“Well… when will you be back then?”

“I don’t know, soon I hope. Look, it’s a complicated story but the best thing for you guys to do right now is play Undertale.”

“What, the video game?” How is tha-”

“Just… trust me. Go play Undertale. Kay, I gotta go Buds.”

“Wai-” But you cut off the connection. You’d need a clear head if you were gonna explain all of this to Grillby.

That was if he would even sit in the same room as you.

You moved tentatively out into the living room where Grillby was sitting, shaking. You didn’t managed to get a word out before he saw you and jumped. It seemed your souls were being more cooperative now because you were able to force them apart. 

“Grillby, it’s okay. It’s just me.”

He made a series of fiery hissing sounds before clearing his throat and speaking English to you.

“What are you!? How do you keep changing your HP!?”

You sighed, sitting down far enough from him that he might feel a little more comfortable. “There’s… more I need to tell you.”

“Clearly!” He exclaimed. “Start with my first question. What. Are. You?”

“I’m human.” You said, he snorted. “I-I know is doesn’t seem likely, but I am.” You had a feeling he wouldn’t believe you easily. But you had an idea.

You synthesized your souls and looked up at him, he looked very worried and off-put. 

“Grillby, is it possible for you to show me my soul?”

Grillby began to go blue. “I-I, yes, but that’s rather, um… private and intimate.” You wondered if there was human equivalent to what you were asking him.

“Okay, and?”

“W-Well are you sure y-you want, I mean am I-I really the right, this can’t be a good-”

“Grillby,” You sighed. “It’s the only way for me to explain this so that you’ll understand and believe me.”

“O-Okay.” He mumbled. “But we’ll, uh, need to be closer s-so I, um… ” You got up and headed for the couch. He followed and sat next to you. He took a deep breath. “This is, a big deal, and puts a lot of faith in me. Are sure that’s what you want?”

“Of course it is. I trust you. I love you.”

You could see something pulsing or flashing under Grillby’s shirt but you said nothing. Grillby took some unnecessary deep breaths and placed the tips of his fingers, palms up, in the middle of your stomach. You felt a tug and winced at the slight pain before opening your eyes. There in front of you was a bright gold heart hovering over Grillby’s hands.

He gaped at the heart in his hands. “That’s impossible.” He breathed. “That’s simply impossible.”

“Like I was saying.” You muttered. “I am human. I just have-”

“Two souls!” He choked out. “Two human souls!.” Grillby looked up at you. “H-How did you get a second soul?! W-Where did you-”

“I was born with them.”

“H-How?! Why?!”

“I-I don’t know the mechanics of how but I, uh… know the why.”

Grillby stared at you expectantly. This was the part you were dreading. There was no way to explain this that didn’t sound awful and scary. He would be horrified. 

He would hate you.

You took a deep breath and avoided his gaze. “Have you ever encountered a demon?”

Grillby looked confused. “What? Wh-”

“Just… please, answer the question.”

He sighed. “I believe I have, once, long ago. I’ve never seen one in the underground, but back before the war there was a human in our village. In the matter of one night, he changed. The humans noticed that he became ruthless and cold, but the monsters could see that his HP had changed, it was much higher that it had been and seemed to glitch. Some monsters said it seemed to have two souls. They called the second soul a demon.” He suddenly jumped back from you. Your souls slammed back into your chest, knocking you onto your back and knocking the wind out of you. You tried to catch your breath and sit up as Grillby cowered at the other end of the couch. 

“Okay,” you huffed. “Before you ask, I’m not a demon. But I do know a lot about them. There are four other humans with more than one soul, but I’m the only one with an entire second soul. We were created to get rid of demons, but, I can do more than that.”

You took a deep breath. “I can destroy them. Demons were once human souls, but they’ve been twisted so much they no longer feel, they do seem to enjoy pain and suffering though. I can send them back to hell, where they were created, but I can also destroy them, erasing them from existence. No one should have that kind of power, it shouldn’t exist, I shouldn’t exist.”

“I’m a monster…”

Grillby coughed uncomfortably. You met his gaze as you realized what he’d said.  “Oh God, I’m sorry Grillby, I-I didn’t mea-”

He shook his head, chuckling. “I know, it’s a human expression. I just… all this time I was seeing myself as the ‘monster’ and you were seeing yourself as the ‘monster.’”

“I guess we’re both monsters…” You muttered.

“I guess so.” He replied.

Silence.

“I haven’t hurt anyone down here.” You mumbled. “I don’t know if that counts for anything. I’ve only destroyed one demon. It was tormenting us, it killed my friend’s sister. I had no other choice…”

“Does it… work on things, other than demons?”

“Theoretically,” You replied. “But I’ve never tried.”

“Oh.” 

Silence again.

Grillby cleared his throat, blushing, “Could… could I… see your souls… again…”

“Huh? Oh, yeah sure.”

Grillby took a deep breath and slid closer to you on the couch. You synthesized your souls as he brought his hands to your stomach again. You again felt the tug as your souls appeared in his hands. He stared at them in awe.

“You’re incredible.” he breathed. “Just remarkable. C-Can you do anything else?”

“Well, my powers are specifically designed to fight demons. I can destroy, or damn souls, I can also expel them from a body, or a building. I can detect souls, demons, and ghosts.” Grillby gave you a curious look. “Human souls that don’t move on become ghosts, I think monster ghosts are something different though.”

“Ah,” He said. “And the… shaking?”

“Well…” You reached out toward the kitchen table. A glass shook for a few moments before flying across the room into your hand. 

“Woah,” He breathed. “Just… woah.”

You tossed the glass from one hand to the other, making it pass slowly through the air. “Man, this feels good. I mean the eyes are pretty freaky, but my souls don’t like being cooped up.”

“And I don’t like being cut off.” Buds said, forcing her voice back into your head.

“Your eyes changed colour!” Grillby exclaimed.

“Oh, yeah, they do that when I use a different ability. The others I mentioned, I have a direct link with them mentally via a girl named Tamera, it’s kinda confusing.”

“Indeed,” muttered Grillby. “I’m going to go and make you some breakfast, and… try to understand all of this.”

“Yeah, it’s a lot to process.”

Grillby went off to the kitchen.

“So, I want specific answers.”

“Yeah, I kinda figured that.” You muttered.

“Mt. Ebott, right?”

“Yeah, so you know the rumour, the whole people don’t return thing?”

“Yeah.”

“I know why, there’s a hole at the top, I tripped into the mountain and ended up underground and, well, the game explains the rest much better than I could.”

“But, Monks, we searched the top of the mountain where you hiked, there was nothing there. There was no hole anywhere.”

Your body went cold. 

“What do you mean? There has to be a hole there. I fell in…”

“I’m sorry Monks, if there was a hole there someone hid it pretty well.”

“Okay,” You mumbled, your throat feeling tight. So that’s why it was a myth, that’s why it hadn’t been confirmed. Someone was picking and choosing who fell in the mountain.

And you had a hunch as to who.

“Well,” You said. “Play the game I told you about, get the others to play it too. If there’s someone picking who falls down here… Well between that and the big man upstairs I have to be down here for a reason so, play the game… and keep your head up.”

“You too, Monks.”

You could feel that she was gone. You were alone in your own head again. You got up and headed into the kitchen doorway, Grillby didn’t notice you. He seemed to be making something finicky because he was concentrating intently. You moved an unused whisk from the counter to the far side of his face and gently turned it toward yourself. He jumped and yelped your name.

You snickered. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”

He chuckled weakly. “It’s, uh… It’s fine. Are you… going to do that all the time, now?”

“I don’t have to if it makes you feel uncomfortable, and I won’t do it outside, you’re the only one down here that knows about this. It does start to negatively affect me if I don’t use it though.”

“I-It isn’t that I don’t like it! It’s fine, whatever you want is fine! I was just… um, curious…” Grillby said hurriedly.

You dropped the whisk. He jumped. “I’m not going to hurt you. I… I would never do that.”

He flames flickered faster. “O-Oh no! I-I-I wasn-”

“Grillby!” You cut in. His shoulders slumped.

“You’re right, I’m being ridiculous. I’ll stop.”

You sighed frustratedly and wrapped your arms around yourself. “This is why I wasn’t going to tell you, or anyone. It freaks people out, it scares them.” You could feel tears on your cheeks. “I’m a monster.”

 

Grillby watched you, torn. You could destroy him so easily. You could destroy everyone in the underground. That was scary. But…

So could he. He could just as easily hurt you, just as easily end your life like you could his.

So, maybe you were both monsters. But you weren’t afraid of him, and he didn’t need to fear you.

You trusted him.You loved him.

You were never going to hurt him.

And you were crying.

 

A warm hand wiped away the tears on your face. You looked up at Grillby who was smiling at you lovingly. 

“We’ve both done bad things that were for the good of others. It doesn’t make those things feel any less awful. It doesn’t make us feel like better people. But I don’t think we’re monsters, I think we’re people.”

You sniffled and hugged him. “Thanks.” you mumbled into his chest. He just wrapped his arms around you. You stood there for a long while until you were sure you were done crying.

“How are you feeling today, by the way?”

“Not as sick, just a tad nauseous.” You replied, pulling away from him.

“Well your temperature has gone back down, so that’s good.”

“Yeah, Frisk and I should head back to Hotland at some point.”

“Oh, yes, of course.” you mumbled, bordering on bitter. He went back to cooking. You giggled at his reaction, sneaking up on him and hugging him from behind. You snuggled into him and glanced up to see him blushing.

“I’ve still got the flu, you know. So I guess I’m still stuck here for a few days.”

“O-Oh?” He stuttered.

“Mhm.” You hummed.

Grillby flipped around suddenly in your arms and grabbed your chin gently, lifting your face up towards his. Your heart began pounding until he quickly moved to whisper in your ear.

“Then perhaps you should go and get some rest.”

He flipped back around and continued cooking, laughing as you stood there blushing.

Oh no, he wasn’t winning this one.

Suppressing the butterflies in your stomach as best you could you hugged him again and watched the blush grow in his cheeks as you raised yourself up onto your toes. “Not just yet,” you murmured into his ear before planting a kiss on his cheek.

He was still sputtering and hissing in surprise as you left the kitchen, laughing your ass off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys are enjoying the story thus far. I'm sorry updates are so slow, between work and a summer course it's been crazy. Anyway this ends the stuff that was all supposed to happen in Chapter 12 so it's onto Hotland.


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